This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Some call this the silly season. The Legislature is back in session. News organizations and citizen groups across the state are focusing their attention on what goes on up at the top of State Street in Salt Lake City in that very beautiful, historic state Capitol.
Media pundits take jabs at lawmakers and lawmakers throw barbs at the press. It can be a contentious relationship and certainly — by its nature — a tense one.
It is a codependent relationship sometimes functional, sometimes dysfunctional. And I have heard it called a lot of other things — including parasitic — the press, of course, being the parasite.
Be that as it may, it is the role of the press to report to the people of the state what their Legislature is doing.
And however you see the relationship between the news organizations and government officials, each role is absolutely essential to a functioning democracy. Not always popular, seldom easy — but always necessary — and both in service to the public.
It is in fact a very serious business. What happens in the Legislature affects every person living in this state. Out of every session come laws that govern the way we live. What could be more important?
Consequently for the press covering the business of lawmaking, it is equally important. It is the bread and butter of journalism, our very most basic and important responsibility.
This session, The Utah Media Coalition, which represents a broad coalition of news organizations from across the state, including The Salt Lake Tribune, has added another dimension to shining a light on the people's business. It has announced a new service to residents and legislators alike, GRAMA WATCH.
Believing that the best defense of open government is a strong watchdog media, the coalition has formed the WATCH to rank select legislation and government action for openness and accessibility. GRAMA is the Government Records Access and Management Act, which defines the right of the people to access government records so they know what the government is doing in their name.
The idea of the WATCH is to inform legislators and the public at the front end of the process of creating legislation — how a proposed bill will affect the people's right to access government information.
The hope is this leads to more awareness about what is at stake in a particular proposal so that all stakeholders have an opportunity to weigh in before — rather than after — the Legislature takes action.
Do the people care about what legislators do? Do they really care about open government?
You bet they do.
At the end of last year's session after the passage of HB477 a public outcry prompted repeal of the bill that would have neutered GRAMA and cut off public access to an entire classification of government records.
The people spoke in a loud, clear, unified voice. They said don't turn off the lights. We the people want to see what you are doing, and we want our newspapers and other news organizations to watch-dog the process of lawmaking and help us protect our interests.
It is in that spirit the coalition came together. And it is in that spirit it offers GRAMA WATCH, which will rank proposals and other government action with the following:
Bright light • A proposal or action that is good for openness and access
Pale light • Neutral or has little effect on openness and access
Light's out • Bad for openness and access
The WATCH will not rank every proposed bill or action — only those that in some way affect openness and access. The rankings will be sent via press release to legislators, public officials, news media outlets and interested community organizations. You should see or hear them reported in most local news venues, and they can also be found on The Salt Lake Tribune's public data website http://www.utahsright.com/grama.
Nancy Conway is the editor of The Salt Lake Tribune. Reach her at nconway@sltrib.com.