One of the most important things to newspapers is a 52-week-a-year theme, but National Newspaper Week brings special attention to it. That is "the public's right to know."
No doubt, your local newspaper has written about that topic in conjunction with some event in your community that has posed a threat to your right to know.
That basic right - from your newspaper's point of view - usually applies to some governmental entity that tries to circumvent the laws of open meetings and open records.
In my more than 50 years in the newspaper business, the breaking of the laws on open meetings and open records was an all too frequent occurrence. Many elected officials forget they work for the people and that newspapers are supposed to report all actions of governing bodies so that the people will know what their elected "servants" are doing.
One such violation occurred with a school board, composed of well-meaning people just like folks you know, that had been led astray by a superintendent with a propensity to do things behind closed doors. And, there was a regional education center director (a close friend of the superintendent) who conducted "training" courses for new school trustees. He told them it was better - "for the sake of the children" - to settle things in executive session (behind closed doors and in secret) than to come out and present a united front.
A couple of trustees got disgusted with a slick maneuver behind closed doors to raise the superintendent's pay package a considerably larger percentage than any other district employee and talked to the newspaper about it. The remaining trustees chastised those two members and the newspaper for "breaking the rules of executive session," despite the fact the newspaper had given each trustee a copy of a Texas Attorney General's ruling concerning the right of trustees to reveal executive session general discussions to the public through the press.
Ultimately that board caught onto the superintendent's questionable tactics and onto the idea of open government. The superintendent decided to retire.
I'd like to tell you that every instance of open meetings law-breaking by elected officials is exposed and something done to right the wrong. Unfortunately, that is not the case.
There was a county commissioners court that broke the law every time they met despite warnings from our newspaper. This particular elected group would convene at the appointed time and go about the business on the agenda. Then, they'd adjourn for lunch and, all of them wound up at the same table at a restaurant. Do you suppose they didn't talk court business? Did they post a meeting notice with time, place and an agenda? It was a clear case of an open meetings violation. And, as far as I know, it continues to this day.
There are even some elected officials who will tell you, "We were elected to conduct the public's business, now the public just needs to trust us to do that any way we deem necessary." Beware of those kinds of public servants.
There are a few clearly defined reasons that permit an elected body to go into executive session - specific personnel discussion, potential real estate transactions, pending legal matters and security. And, no vote can be taken in an executive session, plus the law requires that minutes of the meeting be kept. A vote must take place in clear view of the public attending the meeting.
You have a right to know how your elected representatives vote on a matter and how they debate an issue. It's part of the process of grading their performance and determining their worthiness to be re-elected. After all, they work for you and me.
If an elected body is calling meetings at inconvenient times and with little notice, which you and most of the public are unable to attend, your newspaper knows it must be there for you.
Your hometown newspaper is there to record the business of that meeting and report it to you just the way it happened and in a way you can understand. You will know how your business is being handled and you can make informed and appropriate decisions on that basis.
So, while we observe National Newspaper Week, just know that your hometown newspaper is there looking out for your interests with regard to elected public bodies 52 weeks a year.
Willis Webb is a retired community newspaper editor-publisher with more than 50 years in the business. He can be reached by email at wwebb@wildblue.net.
