With political leaders pledging great transparency, do we still need Sunshine Week to promote open government?

Absolutely.

This year’s Knight Open Government Survey, done by George Washington University’s National Security Archive, found that only’13 of 90 surveyed federal agencies have made any concrete changes to their Freedom of Information practices even though the president directed them to do so a year ago.

The day after the survey’story appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post and elsewhere, the White House chief of staff and the counsel to the president wrote a memo to the agency heads noting “more work remains” and asking them to “take action” to ensure “full implementation” of President Obama’s Jan. 21 2009 memo.

Other highlights:

• This year’s presidential statement marking Sunshine Week, citing the progress since last year.
• The Scripps Poll, showing that 70 percent of U.S. adults believe the federal government is’secretive.
• Headlines from around the country marking the week.

Sunshine Week started in 2005 as a project of’the American Society of News Editors along with dozens of other groups,’with funding from’Knight Foundation. The foundation later endowed the’annual event, which promotes the importance of open government and freedom of information.

By Eric Newton, Knight Foundation Vice President