Transparency and honesty in government line the path of liberty, but secrecy and duplicity in government pave the road to tyranny.
This understanding of liberty is the cornerstone of the foundation of The Augusta Press. Our mission is to serve the people of the CSRA by holding government accountable. We do not meekly ask for compliance from the government, we demand it. The public’s right to know is sacrosanct.
So far, TAP has filed six lawsuits against the city of Augusta or its’ officials for violating the Open Records Act. For every lawsuit filed, more have been threatened, and all of that legal action has come at a tremendous cost not just to our organization, which receives no grants or government funding, but to the taxpayers who must foot the bills as officials try to defend their positions on secrecy verses openness.
The bottom line is that many times your government is using your money to deny you information.
Recently, a former city staffer, in a conversation with one of our reporters, accused TAP of going on fishing expeditions by sending in broad open records requests.
Well, if you have nothing to hide, then why not allow inspection of government records?
In the same spirit, we at The Augusta Press also heed the words of Proverbs 10:19, “(W)hoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out.”
There is good reason that people find it hard to trust the media any longer. Many outlets have become propaganda arms of political parties or special interest groups. We want you to know that we pledged at our start-up more than two years ago when we began publishing to avoid biased reporting, and we remain committed to that goal today.
Headlines that are not prefaced with “column” or “editorial” are news articles that are sourced by at least two separate and independent human sources or documents. TAP reporters are not allowed to submit news articles using only unnamed sources. Every article is reviewed by an editor who looks for bias and unfair or inaccurate reporting.
If an item is labeled “column,” then this is an indication that you are going to read someone’s opinion. However, it is TAP policy that columnists add some form of attribution to concisely make their points when dealing with issues of fact.
TAP does allow public figures to submit op-ed pieces without any editing, but a disclaimer is clear on those works alerting the reader that the opinions expressed belong to the writer and are not necessarily the opinions of the newspaper.
Editorials that appear on Sundays contain no by-line other than “editorial board.” These are the opinions of the leadership of this newspaper. The current editorial board consists of Publisher Joe Edge, Chief Financial Officer Connie Wilson, Executive Editor Debbie van Tuyll and Editorial Page Editor Scott Hudson.
All editorials must receive a unanimous vote from the editorial board before being published.
The Augusta Press has tasked our award-winning staff of writers to produce a series this week on what government documents we citizens are allowed to inspect as well as pieces focused on how our government officials say they understand the laws involved. We hope you find this series informative.
After all, information is power.
