Nebraska residents are fortunate that the state has very explicit and strict public meetings laws. In fact, it is one of the most stringent states in the nation on this point. For the most part, local and county officials in Central Nebraska are very good at adhering to the public meetings laws. As a news gathering entity, The Independent has been very aggressive in demanding open meetings and access to public documents.

The Nebraska Press Association, a statewide industry organization composed of daily and weekly newspapers, has been vigilant to identify legislation that would endanger or lessen the open meetings laws and access to public information. The Legislature has a good track record of recognizing the need to keep government in the open. They acknowledge the role of the press to cover meetings and hearings as well as to gain access to documents.

Ironically, it is the national government that makes it tougher on citizens who want to know what is going on. Congress has passed literally hundreds of exemptions to the Freedom of Information Act in recent years. They are buried deep in the bowels of massive bills and designed to restrict the transparency of the bill's activity. An effort to thwart such efforts seems to be getting some interest in the Senate in removing such tactics. Legislation was introduced last week to force lawmakers to "explicitly and clearly" state when they are seeking exemptions to the FOIA in any future bills.

The average citizen may be tempted to yawn and not worry about whether a local county board goes into closed session for the wrong reason, or if public documents are not made available for review. But if, for example, the closed session results in higher property taxes or a changed policy that impacts the county roads or law enforcement, the citizens have been denied their opportunity to know what is happening in their county.

The basis for the newspaper's continued aggressiveness in demanding public meetings and access to public information is its responsibility to be a watchdog of government and to inform the citizens. Nothing good happens when the government goes behind closed doors. When the citizens are not allowed to watch their government in action and review public documents, they are being denied their right to participate in government.