Do you want to know?
“The Freedom of Information Act really isn’t that important anymore.” This is what a citizen of Garland County told me the other day when we were discussing The Sentinel-Record’s pursuit of information from the city of Hot Springs regarding the new radio system.
This same person continued by saying, “Folks can find out everything they need to know by looking on the internet. Newspapers are the only people worried about FOI stuff. Regular folks don’t care about it.”
This is one of the saddest conversations
I have had in a very long time. This person really thinks that the internet holds all of the world’s secrets and with a few keystrokes, anyone can find out anything they need to know.
According to The National Security
Archive, The Freedom of Information Act, enacted in 1966, was the first law that gave
Americans the right to access the records of federal agencies. The legislation was the brainchild of California Congressman John Moss. Due to his zeal for making information public, Moss’ own FBI file, recently obtained under FOIA, grew to 2 inches thick. In 1974, after the Watergate scandal, the act was amended to force greater agency compliance.
Our second president, John Adams, said, “Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people, who have a right and a desire to know.”
I guess this quote would not apply to the gentleman I had a conversation with, because obviously he has no desire to know about the actions taken by officials on his behalf and with his tax dollars. The FOIA was put into place to ensure that agencies were held accountable for their actions. The only way this can happen is if there is a high level of transparency between the agency and the people they serve. On occasion, these entities must be forced to divulge what is happening and the FOIA is one of the most useful tools in making that happen.
According to Patrick Henry, “The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them.”
For over 200 years, the newspapers of this country have been the watchdog for the people’s interests and have helped lay a strong foundation for our community. Some people take that for granted. That, I can assure you, is a mistake.
Everything is not readily available on the internet and everything that is available from a news standpoint started with a journalist at a newspaper doing the legwork. All of the other stuff, from Facebook posts to blogs to memes, all feed off the work of newspapers.
If the majority of the public ever begins to think like my friend who has disdain for the FOIA, then our society will be doomed. Being informed is a cornerstone of our liberty and we can never forget it.