Resolution One 2007

Resolution One: A Motion to Support Improvements in Federal Open Government Laws and Procedures

Moved: Resolutions Committee & Standing Committee on Professional Freedom and Responsibility

Whereas the free flow of information to informed citizens is at the center of American democracy, and,

Whereas citizens and their media have for decades employed tools offered by state and federal Freedom of Information laws to learn more about government acts and behaviors, and shed greater light on the workings of their governments, and,

Whereas the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication and its members have long championed openness in government at the national, state, and local levels, as the bedrock condition of an informed citizenry, and,

Whereas the Senate and the House of Representatives have each passed bills (S. 849, “The OPEN Government Act of 2007,” and H.R. 1309, “An Act to Promote Openness in Government by Strengthening Section 552 of Title 5, United States Code (commonly referred to as the Freedom of Information Act” actions held to be “the first major strengthening of FOIA in more than a decade,” and,

Whereas more than one hundred organizations comprising media professionals, government watchdogs, and citizen-interest groups, already have expressed their written support for the philosophy, intent, and specifics of one or both of these bills,

Therefore, be it resolved:

That the members of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication hereby salute the intent and efforts of both the House and Senate members who have supported these bills in the 110th Congress, and,

That the members of this organization strongly urge President George W. Bush to abide by the intent and philosophy of the Congressional action and the support of so many organizations and act accordingly to open government to the people by signing this legislation into law,

and That the president of AEJMC be directed to disseminate this resolution to:

  1. President George W. Bush
  2. Vice President Richard B. Cheney
  3. U.S. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales
  4. Senator Patrick Leahy, chair, Senate Judiciary Committee
  5. Senator John Cornyn, member, Senate Judiciary Committee
  6. Senator Arlen Spector
  7. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
  8. Rep. Henry Waxman, chair, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
  9. Rep. Thomas Davis III, ranking member, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
  10. Rep. William Lacy Clay, Jr., chair, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census, and National Archives
  11. Rep. Michael R. Turner, ranking member, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census, and National Archives
  12. Rep. Todd Russell Platts, member, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs
  13. The membership of AEJMC
  14. The general news media and trade press, and
  15. Any and all such other organizations that relate to Freedom of the Press and the First Amendment.

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