Reply #6: States steadily restrict public's right to know [View All]

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/story/6022213p-5995372c.html

Some things your government doesn't have to tell you about:

n The safety plan at your child's school, if you live in Iowa.

n Medication errors at your grandparent's nursing home in North Carolina.

n Disciplinary actions against Indiana state employees.

States have steadily limited the public's access to government information since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a new Associated Press analysis of laws in all 50 states has found. Legislatures have passed more than 1,000 laws changing access to information, approving more than twice as many measures that restrict information as laws that open government books.

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“I don't know why all of a sudden the holy grail of security and safety is now closing records,” Mark Thomas, head of the Oklahoma Press Association, said after the bill was introduced. “It seems to me we would be more secure if we knew what was going on around us. ... Apparently there are those in government who want to close all these records and say, ‘We'll keep you safe, trust us.”'

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