We are the media, and you can be, too!
According to the
OPEN Government Act of 2007:
[T]he term ‘a representative of the news media’ means any person or
entity that gathers information of potential interest to a segment of
the public, uses its editorial skills to turn the raw materials into a
distinct work, and distributes that work to an audience. In this clause,
the term ‘news’ means information that is about current events or
that would be of current interest to the public. Examples of news-media
entities are television or radio stations broadcasting to the public at
large and publishers of periodicals (but only if such entities qualify
as disseminators of ‘news’) who make their products available for
purchase by or subscription by or free distribution to the general
public. These examples are not all-inclusive. Moreover, as methods
of news delivery evolve (for example, the adoption of the electronic
dissemination of newspapers through telecommunications services), such
alternative media shall be considered to be news-media entities.
It’s pretty obvious LAKE qualifies as a news medium
with its blog,
On the LAKE Front,
as well as its
web pages
and its
facebook page.
Here is the bill’s full text.
The bill was sponsored by
Sen. Patrick Leahy and
17 others, ranging from Sen. Barack Obama to Sen. Johnny Isakson.
It was signed into law by President George W. Bush
31 December 2007.
Of course that’s really just a detail, having to do with the
Wikileaks comparison.
Most of what LAKE does has more to do with Georgia law,
about
open records requests
and
this passage, O.C.G.A. § 50-14-1-c.:
“Visual, sound, and visual and sound recording during open meetings shall be permitted.”
None of that requires a news medium.
Any citizen can file open records requests or record public meetings.
Remember,
you are the media!
-jsq for
LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange
Some local councils don’t even have open records request forms,
and many don’t have them posted online.
But that doesn’t have to stop you!