Public Information

Public information, in general terms, refers to that information that is universally available or that is not controlled or limited in its availability for strategic or security purposes. Public information includes records held by a public body, regardless of the form or source. The primary issue associated with the necessity of publicly available information revealing the actions of government is the assurance and maintenance of accountability and transparency, qualities deemed to be critical features of governance in a democracy. Public information allows citizens to examine the activities of a government and is the basis of informed debate about those activities.

Two fundamental tenets of democracy underlie the need for adequate public information disclosing the activities of government: popular sovereignty and the Constitutional scheme of checks and balances. From the perspective of popular sovereignty, the people cannot govern themselves in a democracy if the institutions of government can deny access to information that bears on the issues the public is supposed to decide. Secrecy, or the withholding of information, enables officials to shape policy without the input of outside individuals or groups. Moreover, the demands of checks and balances require adequate information to allow for an oversight function to take place. Secrecy allows agencies to hide mistakes or conceal misbehavior.

The historical development of the notion of public information parallels the development of the administrative state. The executive branch, starting during the Washington administration, established the precedent for the president and agency heads to manage and limit dissemination of information as a way to promote efficient and effective government. Although the systematic practice of record keeping did not become widespread until regulatory and administrative responsibilities grew dramatically in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the general practice of tightly controlling the availability of information continued. By the 1940s, the issues of executive secrecy necessitated in some agencies by World War II had too many aspects of administration across a wide range of agencies. Following the end of World War II, a series of federal laws were passed that provided many of the basic mechanisms through which public information regarding the activities of government was to be disseminated.