2003 September 28

International Right to Know Day

 

The International Right to Know Day was established on this day. It had been proposed the year before at a meeting of freedom of information organizations in Sofia, Bulgaria.

The United States played a leading role in the idea of freedom of information about government activities with the historic Freedom of Information Act, signed into law on July 4, 1966, by President Lyndon Johnson.

See also March 16, 2005, for the annual Sunshine Week celebrating the principle of Freedom of Information.

For the beginnings of the long crusade against government secrecy, see the first congressional hearings by Rep. John Moss, on November 7, 1955, which ultimately led to the enactment of the Freedom of Information Act.

Read the outstanding new book: Michael Schudson, The Rise of the Right to Know: Politics and the Culture of Transparency, 1945-1975 (2015)

Wikipedia Has a List of Freedom of Information Laws by Country:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_information_laws_by_country

Learn more: Alasdair Roberts, Blacked Out: Government Secrecy in the Information Age (2006)

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