November 6, 2019, at the Providence Community Library’s Olneyville branch. I moderated a panel of four speakers (including me!).
Thank
you, Joseph, and welcome everyone to the New England First Amendment
Coalition’s continuing community conversation. Thanks to the Providence Community Library’s Olneyville branch for
hosting us.
At
a moment when many governments at the local, state and national levels are
emboldened to restrict or deny access to what should be public records – when
politicians in Washington and elsewhere spew nonsense about so-called “fake
news: and call journalist “enemies of the people” – when the bedrock principle
of truth is derided by some – no topic could be more timely and important than
the “First Amendment and the Free Press.”
Before
we begin, I thought it appropriate to read the First Amendment, which Congress
adopted as one of the ten provisions of The Bill of Rights:
“Congress
shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the
free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or
the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government
for a redress of grievances.”
I
think we can all agree that this one incredible sentence – as relevant today as
230 years ago, when James Madison wrote it -- is a cornerstone of American
democracy. And yet, it seems increasingly under attack.
So
I think we can expect a lively discussion tonight built around questions from
the audience. Now. let me introduce my fellow panelists.
Tom
Mooney has covered many of the biggest stories in Rhode Island for more than 30
years for The Providence Journal: from calamities, crime, courts and corruption
to slice of life features and special projects. He's investigated failings
within the DCYF and the money and players behind the booming marijuana
business. Earlier this year he wrote a series of stories about agencies that
routinely deny access to public records and violate the open meetings law. For
14 years he's also taught journalism at Brown University.
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| L to R: Steph Machado, Steve Brown, Tom Mooney. |
Steph
Machado is a Target 12 investigative reporter for WPRI 12, holding government
officials accountable at Providence City Hall and the Rhode Island State House.
She has worked at WPRI TV, Channel 12, since 2015, and was previously a State
House reporter in Vermont. A graduate of the Newhouse School at
Syracuse University, Steph on her web site notes that she specializes in
digital journalism, too, and is “a storyteller at heart.”
Steven
Brown is executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode
Island, and has served in that capacity for over thirty years. During that
time, the state ACLU has filed over 600 lawsuits covering a broad range of
civil liberties and constitutional issues, including dozens of cases
vindicating the public's rights under the First Amendment and the Access to
Public Records Act. Before coming to Rhode Island, he was executive director of
the Iowa Civil Liberties Union and he worked at the Philadelphia ACLU.
Steve,
maybe you can get us started with your overall assessment of access to public
records that residents of Rhode Island have – or don’t – at the end of 2019.
