Testing the Waters
TBI, Google Allowed to Keep Files Secret
Should the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation be able to keep its case files forever secret from the public?
Should Google be able to keep secret how much money it will get from a local government?
Those were but two questions reviewed Thursday morning during the second meeting of a group of state lawmakers trying to get their hands around the 563 current exemptions to Tennessee’s Open Record Act.
Jack McElroy, executive editor of the Knoxville News-Sentinel, told the group public records are vital to a newspaper’s watchdog function. Jack McElroy - KNOXVILLE NEWS-SENTINEL
Knoxville News-Sentinel
Jack McElroy
“Records are critical for us to fulfill our responsibilities set out in the First Amendment, for being the eyes and the ears of the citizens, and holding government accountable,” said McElroy, who is also co-chairman of the Tennessee Press Association’s (TPA) government affairs committee.