Editors, Managing Editors and Friends of APME,

The inaugural Sunshine Week last year was a tremendous hit as newspapers around the country shed light on freedom of information and other issues surrounding the public's right to know.

Now it's time to plan for Sunshine Week 2006 March 12-18. We're hoping for double the participation from newspapers large and small. Despite the success of last year's effort, we know that government secrecy continues to be a major issue not just in Washington, but in communities everywhere.

Citizens must be informed about this critical issue and they should be given an opportunity to express their views through their local newspaper.

Several papers are planning town hall meetings focusing on a particular freedom of information issue in their area. Others are convening small panels of local citizens at the newspaper offices to discuss access issues.

Since 2006 is an election year, some newspapers are planning to question political candidates in their communities about FOI matters, while others are either planning major enterprise stories or soliciting guest columns to coincide with Sunshine Week.

In the coming days, we will post several Sunshine Week best practices on the APME Web site. Or you may go to www.sunshineweek.org for ideas. If you have ideas you'd like to share, you may send them to my e-mail address below and we will get them posted.

Otis Sanford
Managing Editor, The Memphis Commercial Appeal
Co-chair, APME First Amendment Committee
sanford@commercialappeal.com