Sunshine Laws

1. Sunshine Laws By: Anna Branch & Riley Sheridan

2. What are sunshine laws? • Sunshine laws are laws that protect the people’s rights to know what their government and government officials are doing.

3. What prompted the legislation of sunshine laws? • People wanted the right to know what the government officials were discussing in closed meetings so for 10 years they tried to pass a law to do it.

4. Origins on the Sunshine laws • Finally in 1967 the Florida legislative passed laws after a decade of unsuccessful attempts http://sunshinereview.org/index.php/State_sunshine_laws

5. How does this relate to journalism? • The sunshine laws help professional journalists to find out key newsworthy information about what is happening in their government and with their government officials

6. Are sunshine laws different from state to state? The concepts of the sunshine laws are the same throughout the United States. The names vary depending on the state but overall they represent the same goal.

7. New York • Specifically to New York there were series of laws designed to guarantee the public has access to public records of government bodies • Passed in 1974 • Called the Freedom of Informational Law (FOIL)

8. How might the laws be useful to a Shenendahowa journalist? • If you are doing an article on the government or how it effects the school you could never be denied information. • This is key because you will always be able to have newsworthy information to share with peers.

9. How might this help the Shen Pen? • The newspaper will be able to find out any information they would want to know. • This would make for interesting articles that would catch the interest of the students and teachers reading it.