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ARKANSAS
Ark a nsa s
PRESS
Publisher Weekly
ASSOCIATION
Serving Press and State Since 1873
Vol. 14 | No. 4 | Thursday, January 24, 2019
Throughout career, Albarado fights for transparency One of Arkansas’s strongest advocates for open government points to an experience as a rookie reporter in Louisiana for helping him understand the importance of transparency. More than 45 years ago, Sonny Albarado’s distaste for a governing body’s method of conducting business fostered his long-time fight for open meetings and open government. Albarado, the projects editor for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette is a veteran member of the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act Coalition and one of the leading experts on the law.
Albarado recalls one of his first assignments covering the Terrebonne Parish Police Jury for the Houma Daily Courier. The parish police jury (similar to a county quorum court) sat around a table, some members with their backs to the audience. There was no advanced notice about the agenda, and the public didn’t have copies of the documents being discussed. “If they passed around documents, you had to wait until after the meeting to find out what they were talking about,” Albarado said. “There were physical and psychological barriers where they were letting the public know ‘We’re doing business, and you don’t need to know what we’re doing,’ and I’ve never gotten over that.” Albarado has worked as a reporter or editor at multiple newspapers in Louisiana, Tennessee and Arkansas since 1972, and is a former national president of the Society of Professional Journalists. He
said that his nearly 47 years of experience has proven out his belief that unchecked governments tend toward secrecy. Thus, he is diligent about strong open meetings and open government laws. “Officials will do things in secret if they possibly can,” he said. “I know there are good people in government, but at the same time, I know if you have the opportunity to do something in secret, it will happen. My experience teaches me that opinion is not undeserved.” Arkansas’s FOI law is among the strongest in the nation, thanks in part to the efforts of Albarado and others on the FOIA Coalition who strive to protect the law from major changes during each legislative session. Albarado’s advocacy also extends to the Democrat-Gazette newsroom, where reporters use the state’s FOIA as a tool to root out corruption and shine light on actions of government officials. Continued on Page 2
Reminder: FOIA Coalition meets January 29th Friday, Jan. 25, is the deadline to register for the next meeting of the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act Coalition.
The coalition meets Tuesday, Jan. 29 at noon at the Darragh Center of the Central Arkansas Library System main library in downtown Little Rock. Representatives of the Arkansas Municipal League are expected to attend to discuss the League’s support of several proposals that could impact, or even weaken, the state’s open meetings and open records law. One
bill would exempt certain documents, or “working papers” of government attorneys from disclosure during active litigation. Another possible proposal calls for all existing exemptions to the FOIA to be specifically codified within the Act. Municipal League Executive Director Mark Hayes has been invited to discuss the proposals with the coalition. The Arkansas FOIA Coalition is made up of journalists, publishers, attorneys,
educators and others. Its mission is to protect the state’s FOIA, one of the strongest in the United States. The Darragh Center is located within the library at 100 Rock St. in downtown Little Rock. A boxed lunch will be offered to attendees, and RSVP is required by Friday to Ashley Wimberley, Arkansas Press Association executive director. Email her at ashley@ arkansaspress.org.