Sunshine Week 2023: Three major threats to government transparency — and three big wins
Published by American Oversight, March 13, 2023
American Oversight uses public records requests to extract information from government officials to drive accountability and defend democracy. Open government is a crucial pillar of democracy, and public records laws help ensure that people are informed about the decisions that impact their lives.
In the past year, we’ve seen numerous threats to transparency that endanger the public’s right to know about the actions of government officials, from state lawmakers rewriting rules to hide their communications to public officials’ use of auto-deleting messaging apps.
At the same time, American Oversight has been a part of major victories in promoting government transparency and accountability, including better records retention policies in the federal government and court wins that make it easier for the public to access records.
