LO meetings get Torrid · 14 August 08
Yuxing Zheng of The Oregonian recently wrote about a development in Lake Oswego that should be of interest to every journalist that covers Oregon government.
Specifically, a blogger has demanded access to the executive session of Lake Oswego City Council meetings, citing the section of Open Meetings Law that lets reporters attend the sessions. He argues that he does reporting and has been credentialed by the Obama campaign.
The blogger is Mark Bunster, who publicly identifies himself under his screen name, “Torrid Joe” or TJ. His site is devoted to political news, issues and advocacy.
Given the potential for this situation to be exploited by pro-secrecy officials, journalists need to track this closely. Already, SPJ Oregon/SW Washington has heard several anecdotes in the last year about abuse of executive sessions to unlawfully keep the public’s business from the public. The anecdotes concern instances in which quorums of elected officials have secretly discussed contracts, public relations strategy, and just general griping— none of which had statutory justification. In at least one instance, journalists have taken action to correct the abuse. But if journalists lose any access to these sessions, restricting the ability to monitor them, it could further jeopardize the integrity of the law.
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— yhqznuibd · 18 November 08 · #