Sunshine week shines again

Across the US next week Americans will get to hear a lot about the importance of open government and freedom of information, as Sunshine Week, led by the American Society of Newspaper Editors, gets under way.

Now in its 3rd year it is designed to increase public awareness about the public's right to know what the government is doing and why, and to highlight excessive and unwarranted government secrecy. The resources available for use by print, radio and television are fantastic, including community service advertisements featuring prominent film stars, and opinion pieces by leading authorities.

The national scope of the initiative is illustrated by this list of those who picked up on the theme last year.