links for 2006-03-16

• Green Goddess Gazette: Political Weather Forecast
  "Sunshine Week is an indirect result of the climate of fear surrounding 9/11. When Florida lawmakers moved to severely limit access to public information in 2002, the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors declared Sunshine Sunday."
  (tags: sunshine+week info+access government history nonprofits newspapers advocacy blogs)
• Let the sunshine in (Huntsville Times - AL)
  "Closer to home, the issue that hits hardest will be this summer's switch of police reports so that victims won't be identified. And that may be just a first step in further limiting public disclosure of police reports."
  (tags: Alabama sunshine+week law info+access government media mainstream+media newspapers advocacy)
• Alabama's changes to crime reports hurt public's right to know (AP)
  "The blanket policy - approved by the Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center Commission in January - makes Alabama one of a handful of states that don't consider the names of victims as part of the public record of a crime,"
  (tags: sunshine+week journalism media mainstream+media info+access government law advocacy)
• A cure worse than disease (Brimingham News, AL)
  "Starting June 4, the public portion of the [AL] police reports... There will be no victims' names, addresses, phone numbers or details about the crimes and where they occurred."
  (tags: newspapers info+access government law sunshine+week advocacy)
• Reuters CEO interview (FT.com / Debates & polls / Ask the expert - Ask the expert: Should old media embrace the new?)
  "Do you see a way where grassroots journalists who really want to do a good job might be given access to resources, or some kind of training (e.g. sponsorship by organisations such as Reuters) to improve the quality of their work and give it credibility?"
  (tags: citizen+journalism skills resources media media+evolution mainstream+media collaboration)