On why we need open government, open data and a free press!
Keeping the journalistic watchdog alive and feistyhttp://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2012990330_guest26blethen.html
These are dangerous days for our nation, writes Seattle Times Publisher Frank Blethen. One of the root reasons is that we have lost our popular independent press.
By Frank Blethen, Seattle Times Publisher, Editor's note: This column is a version of a speech Frank Blethen gave to the Washington Coalition for Open Government Sept. 17 as he accepted its 2010 James Madison Award.
Reading this, I am reminded why I think the Canadian Charter needs to be tweaked to:
The Charter of Rights, Freedom and "Responsibility". Right now we are recipients of the benefits derived from the Charter, but I think doing citizenship is that latter responsibility part which is not explicit in the document. Formally, our role vis the Crown is as subjects. That formality has structured the machinery of our government, governing the people, for the people but not by/with the people. I think, the work many are doing is toward changing that but we / I have not quite figured out how that is going to play out and what that means for the long term. But I can tell you that right now, high ranking policy makers in the Canadian Government, when they are looking at issues of open data, their first impulse is Liability to the Crown and not responsibility to the people. Citizens, need to balance that policy scale. The mob mentality of the Tea Party and extreme libertarianism are frightening manifestations of group led individual self interests. There has got be be a Canadian Style of doing it. One inspired by social and environmental justice and the dance between collective and individual rights. That is what I think about when I am thinking about open data, it is a teeny tiny step toward broadening the gaze on public policy. Not one based on hunches, but one that is informed and intelligent, where the facts and the records to support those facts are important and the models upon which decisions are made are grounded in good methodology that is explicit and where questions are formulated by deliberations between and among citizens...
The article on the free press reminds me of what was dramatically showcased in season 5 of The Wire -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wire_(season_5). The opening scene is fabulous - The Bigger the Lie the more they believe it - where the police use a photocopier to feigns a lie detector test on an uneducated street kid who committed a crime. What does that have to do with journalism? Well just watch it!
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Tracey P. Lauriault
613-234-2805
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