Foreword

by Tom Heslin

This booklet is intended to foster a greater understanding of the importance of unfettered citizen access to the records and processes of government. The focus is Rhode Island; the lessons are universal. Cynics are often quick to dismiss the “Right to Know” as the narrow concern of media malcontents and petulant gadflies. That is akin to dismissing airline safety as the narrow concern of pilots. We would do better to remember that the stakes are high for all of us.

Most citizens are at least vaguely familiar with one or more of the five First Amendment freedoms: religion, speech, press, assembly and petition. We are proud to articulate these rights as essentials of our democracy — principles that many people around the world only dream of enjoying. Fewer of us are aware that the Right to Know is embedded in the First Amendment. Fewer still realize that this principle enables the media to report on the activities of government: from the local school committee to the U.S. Congress, from the local police blotter to the troops at war. Extinguish this principle and the process of government becomes one grand secret; participatory citizenship becomes a myth.

“Democracies die behind closed doors,” said Judge Damon J. Keith of the U.S. Court of Appeals, Cincinatti, for the Sixth Circuit. The courts have defined the principle of public access over the years, with rulings that sometimes reach back to common law. Federal and state statutes have been enacted to achieve these principles. Yet, there is no overarching standard, and agencies and officials across the land share a universal, and unfortunate, infatuation with secrecy. Only the impact is consistent.

Again from Keith: “When government begins closing doors, it selectively controls information rightfully belonging to the people. Selective information is misinformation.”

These pages convey the experience and expertise of 12 authorities on your right to know. Individually, each writer brings a unique perspective. We are confident that this collection will empower leadership, scholarship and citizenship — in Rhode Island and beyond.