{"id":1792,"date":"2017-07-24T12:24:24","date_gmt":"2017-07-24T16:24:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vapc.org\/?page_id=1792"},"modified":"2017-07-24T12:24:24","modified_gmt":"2017-07-24T16:24:24","slug":"preserve-american-rights-open-meetings-records","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/about-vpw\/foia\/preserve-american-rights-open-meetings-records\/","title":{"rendered":"Preserve American Rights to Open Meetings and Records"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Marisa Porto<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/vpc.wildapricot.org\/resources\/Pictures\/Marisa%20Porto.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"78\" height=\"77\" align=\"left\" border=\"0\" \/>American writer Walter Lippman once wrote, \u201cThe best servants of the people, like the best valets, must whisper unpleasant truths in the master\u2019s ear.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His quote describes perfectly the mission of a newspaper and its staff.<\/p>\n<p>That mission remains at the heart of why Americans should be concerned about the state of the Freedom of Information Act around this nation.<\/p>\n<p>Almost daily I hear the cry of \u201cfake news\u201d from subscribers who have read stories they didn\u2019t like. It\u2019s tough to address when you are editor and publisher of a local news organization. Why? Because these conversations are no longer based on fact but on belief, and arguing belief, in my opinion, is generally a losing battle.<\/p>\n<p>Today it\u2019s becoming routine for politicians and other government officials to deny public records requests and close more public meetings as a way around having to vet ideas outside the public eye. As a member of the Virginia FOIA advisory council, I\u2019ve heard a number of stories about this from around the state.<\/p>\n<p>When these kinds of incidents occur, the victim is not just us but everyone. Because when we can\u2019t report, the public is denied its right to know how the government conducts its business. That\u2019s why it matters today and every day that every American \u2013 not just journalists \u2013 works to preserve the right to open meetings and records so we can know what choices are being made in our name.<\/p>\n<p>Read more about the Freedom of Information Act and current and pending legal rulings on the<a href=\"http:\/\/vpc.wildapricot.org\/EmailTracker\/LinkTracker.ashx?linkAndRecipientCode=N4GgBFaoHyGfWPzjn8b8QTwC%2bSx3iRL9xmtZu85QWbtszk8PxquFOLLvyMZipG0oPii2P5kf4rm%2fCKUFDAEcF2fdWiJ3tXloIkw%2f4OJai4I%3d\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Virginia Coalition for Open Government website.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Marisa Porto American writer Walter Lippman once wrote, \u201cThe best servants of the people, like the best valets, must whisper unpleasant truths in the master\u2019s ear.\u201d His quote describes perfectly the mission of a newspaper and its staff. That mission remains at the heart of why Americans should be concerned about the state of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":143,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1792","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Preserve American Rights to Open Meetings and Records - VPC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Virginia Professional Communicators\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/about-vpw\/foia\/preserve-american-rights-open-meetings-records\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Preserve American Rights to Open Meetings and Records - 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