Blog
Get ready to celebrate Sunshine Week starting Sunday
- By: ASNE staff
- On: 03/09/2017 09:41:30
- In: Sunshine Week
Sunshine Week 2017 kicks off Sunday, March 12, to fight for open government and access to information. We invite every group and individual to join forces in this important initiative.
One way to get involved and demonstrate your support for transparency is publishing stories, photos, a video, columns and editorial cartoons from the special reporting package, produced by The Associated Press, Associated Press Media Editors, Gannett, McClatchy, The Dallas Morning News and the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Most of the content will be available on the AP wire by today (Thursday) and on the ASNE budget page Friday, March 10, for members-only. The Sunshine Week website will also release the package Sunday, March 12. All of the materials, free for anyone and everyone during Sunshine Week, are embargoed for publication at 12:01 a.m. EDT Sunday, March 12.
Other resources you can use to participate are in the Sunshine Week Toolkit, which features daily updated editorial cartoons and op-eds, as well as the official logos. The newest op-ed submission by ASNE member Christian Trejbal, founder of Opinion in a Pinch, can be used by anyone as early as today.
If you haven't already signed on as a participant in Sunshine Week, please go to the participants page and do so. You'll be in good company with dozens of news organizations, civic groups, libraries, nonprofits, schools and others interested in the public's right to know. Also, look through this calendar of events, and email us your plans to sunshineweek@asne.org.
A few upcoming events around the nation:
- The Presidency and the Press: Will Free Speech Survive? (Today in Las Cruces, New Mexico)
- Live Podcast for Sunshine Week (March 12 in Albuquerque, New Mexico)
- Sunshine Week Kickoff: FOIA and Journalism Workshop (March 12 in Somerville, Massachusetts)
- Sunshine Week 2017 at the National Archives (March 13 in Washington, D.C.)
- Sunshine Day 2017 at Elon University (March 13 in Elon, North Carolina)
- The Right to Know in New Hampshire, in Theory and Practice (March 13 in Manchester, New Hampshire)
- DC Open Government Summit (March 14 in Washington, D.C.)
- Keeping the Door Open - Fighting for Public Transparency (March 14 in Greencastle, Indiana)
- Media Law for Journalists One-Day Workshop and Roundtable (March 14 in Doral, Florida)
- Annual Sunshine Luncheon & Awards Reception (March 14 in Tallahassee, Florida)
Sunshine Week 2017 is made possible by an endowment from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and by a donation from The Gridiron Club and Foundation.
ASNE launched Sunshine Week in 2005 as a national initiative. Since 2012, ASNE has partnered with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press to provide support for news organizations, libraries, universities, civic groups, nonprofits and others who want to promote open government and access to information.