Investigative Reporters & Editors, Inc. is launching a new award -- dubbed the Golden Padlock -- recognizing the most secretive publicly-funded agency or person in the United States. It is calling on journalists and the public for worthy nominees.

"This honor acknowledges the dedication of government officials working tirelessly to keep vital information hidden from the public," said David Cay Johnston, president of IRE . "Their abiding commitment to secrecy and impressive skill in information suppression routinely keeps knowledge about everything from public health risks to government waste beyond the reach of citizens who pay their salaries."

IRE is now accepting nominations for the ...

New York State this week announced the addition of millions of records to the state’s data transparency website, open.ny.gov, which launched during Sunshine Week of 2011. New York’s is one of 39 state open data sites, according to data.gov. At least 39 county and city governments have similar portals.

The records span multiple state agencies and include, according to the news release, includes the following records:

• Campaign Contributions, Expenditures, and Committees: Over seven million
     records of campaign contributions and expenditures dating back to 1999,
     along with a complete list of candidate committees registered with the ...

After the Obama administration promised it would “strengthen whistleblower laws to protect federal workers who expose waste, fraud, and abuse of authority in government,” it has since carried out an unprecedented campaign against federal government whistleblowers.

Since 2009, six government officials have been prosecuted under the Espionage Act, a World War I era act that had only been used three times before the current administration. The New York Times, ProPublica, The New Yorker, The Nation and others have all documented various aspects of the administration’s crackdown on whistleblowers.

This week, Bill Moyers’ site provides an overview of the six ...

In a disappointing unanimous decision yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states can ignore public record requests from non-residents.

This is one of the most regressive, backward rulings the U.S. Supreme Court has issued on access laws for some time. Two reasons make this particularly alarming:

• The court continues to look at public records as commodities, like lumber or turnips. The bulk of the case came down to whether the Virginia law harms business interests for those buying and selling information from outside the state. The court completely ignored the 76-page amicus brief submitted by the Reporters ...

The U.S. Supreme Court decided unanimously today that the state of Virginia had the power to restrict public records access to residents of that state. Virginia limits freedom of information requests to its own residents and certain media outlets.

The case reached the court after Rhode Island resident Mark J. McBurney and California resident Roger W. Hurlbert sued Virginia for blocking access to public documents that an in-state resident could obtain.

They contended that the state’s practice violated the Constitution’s Privileges and Immunities Clause and its Commerce Clause. The court ruled that Virginia’s FOIA law  “does ...

Reversing a position announced in March, the U.S. Department of State has stated it will make public the more than 800,000 comments submitted to date regarding the controversial Keystone XL pipeline.

In March, John H. Cushman reported for InsideClimate News that the State Department would not make public the public comments it received during the drafting of an Environmental Impact Statement for the pipeline, except through the Freedom of Information Act. Cushman, who said he makes a habit of reading the docket of public comments for reporting, said he was taken aback when he was told the comments ...

By Jonathan Ellis, Argus Leader

Here’s a novel idea: If you take money from the federal government, the public should know how much you’re taking and for what.

That basic premise is at the heart of the Argus Leader’s lawsuit against the United States Department of Agriculture. The paper filed suit in 2011 seeking to force the department to turn over records of how much each business that participates in the food stamp program has earned from food stamps over the last five years. The lawsuit would force the disclosure of those records from more than 300 ...

Last week, The Association of Health Care Journalists, along with IRE and five other journalism and open-government groups, sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture calling for the release of public information about the country's food stamp program. From the AHCJ blog: 

Currently, the USDA refuses to reveal how much money individual retailers make from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as food stamps. Additionally, the USDA does not disclose which products are purchased with SNAP dollars or how much is spent on each product, in aggregate.

The USDA’s position runs contrary to President ...

By John Bones, Verdens Gang

It started like an ordinary news story last October. One of our reporters, Frank Haugsbo, made Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to the five biggest cities in Norway to get access to the kindergarten inspection reports. While reading them, he saw a pattern of violation of law.

This gave VG the idea to investigate the whole country. The inspections are done by the different municipalities, so Frank Haugsbo ...

By Judy Meyer

Maine is moving in the wrong direction when it comes to public access.

Blame technology.

The very computer systems and databases created to improve the flow of information and ease public access are now being held up, by lawmakers, as troublesome portals to be sealed shut in the interest of personal privacy. That easy access to public records is something to fear.

While fear is a good motivator to move people to action, it’s a poor foundation for drafting good public policy. But fear works, and lawmakers increasingly seem more moved by emotion than by information ...