Transparency is a key component of an active democracy wherein the public participate in their own governance. All too often, city councils, commissions and governing bodies appear to object to conducting business in the harsh light of day. Now, it seems, Lakeside City Hall are attempting to subvert the public’s right to know by claiming city officials can choose who or what is ‘media’.
This is a dangerous precedence for any publishing organization, those groups that help act as watchdogs, and even worse for the public that need to know what is really going on. As reported here previously, Coast Lake News has been shut out of covering the news at Lakeside City Hall because the officials claim they don’t choose them as media. The World does a nice write up on the matter.
…the Oregon Attorney General’s Public Records and Meetings Manual indicates that, although there is no exact definition for ‘representatives of the news media,” the term is believed to include news-gathering representatives who ordinarily report activities of a governing body.
The Coast Lake News has covered the city of Lakeside since the weekly ran its first issue on May 13, 2009, Lloyd-Rogers said.
She has more than three decades of journalism experience and belongs to the Investigative Reporters and Editors, the National Freedom of Information Coalition and the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors.
Lake Oswego
The Coast Lake News also seems to fulfill conditions of a test to determine who is media, Bonczijk said. Endorsed by the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association and the League of Oregon Cities, it was developed after the city of Lake Oswego questioned whether a blogger could attend an executive session.
The Oregon Government Ethics Commission has opened two separate investigations on the matter against Bandon and Lakeside City Counselor, Fred Carleton as well as Mayor Pro-Tem, Rod Schilling. The investigation may take up to 135 days to complete.
