The Clarion-Ledger Editorial, 9/30/7
Newspaper executives and open-government advocates across the state are planning a campaign to roll back what they believe is increased secrecy in Mississippi government.
In a meeting in Jackson recently, some of the state’s leading voices for government transparency discussed plans to push the Mississippi Legislature to reform the state’s decades-old open-meetings and open-records acts. Among the group’s goals are increased access to records involving police investigations, political contributions and quasi-governmental agencies such as university foundations.
Over the years, legislators have peppered the state code with exemptions to the open records law, reducing access to the machinery of state government for everyone from reporters to regular citizens, said Stan Tiner, vice president and executive editor of The Sun-Herald in Biloxi.
Magnolia Tribune
