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As we commemorate this year’s Sunshine Week — an annual celebration of government transparency — it’s important to highlight other ways journalists are hunting down data to inform the public on why it matters that they have access to this information at the local, state, and federal levels.
Anyone interested in preserving First Amendment rights to assemble, petition the government, speak freely, practice religion, and protect a free press needs to explain to their neighbors why they should care about disappearing data. Start at the local level, where your community’s health department and public schools are affected — and keep pushing at the state capital and in Washington, D.C.
Here are a few ways journalists and members of the public can gain access to important information amid disappearing federal datasets:
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Ask your local and state governments for a list of data related to health, schools, taxes, the environment, airport safety, and infrastructure that they often report to federal agencies. Then ask them how you can access it and whether it is online somewhere or if you need to file a public records request.
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Ask local and state governments for a list of data that they may still be receiving from the federal government but aren’t being publicly posted by the feds – nutrition, vaccination info, infrastructure, and weather information are some examples. Ask the local and state governments where they are keeping that data from the federal government and how you can get access to it.
Want to participate in data saving or know someone who does? MuckRock, a non-profit collaborative news site, has compiled a list of resources and ways to get involved here.
Miranda S. Spivack is the author of "Backroom Deals in Our Backyards: How Government Secrecy Harms Our Communities and the Local Heroes Fighting Back" (The New Press 2025). She is vice president of the D.C Open Government Coalition. You can reach here at mirandaspivack@yahoo.com and at www.mirandaspivack.com.
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