Roanoke Times editorial: The Adventures of [REDACTED]
Editorial: The Adventures of [REDACTED]
Government censors take on a classic.
http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/wb/xp-154789
The Freedom of Information Act empowers citizens to demand government documents. Curious people have found terrible government abuses and wonderful government successes.
Yet too many elected officials prefer secrecy. They whittle away at the public's right to know, exempting certain types of information for FOIA.
They try to have it both ways. Voters like openness, so politicians keep the documents public. They just render them useless with a black pen.
When an agency releases a document, it can redact it. That's the practice of blacking out portions, and it's something government officials abuse to great effect.
Rather than demonstrate the power of redaction with a boring government document, we pulled an American classic from the shelf, one that most people read in school and are familiar with.
Below is the second paragraph of Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." If the government had its way, the text wouldn't make much sense.
Visit blogs.roanoke.com/roundable to read the original passage and see what you're missing.
Then think about thwat else you're missing. What embarassing facts and criminal acts do elected officials hide with a black pen?
Government censors take on a classic.
http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/wb/xp-154789
The Freedom of Information Act empowers citizens to demand government documents. Curious people have found terrible government abuses and wonderful government successes.
Yet too many elected officials prefer secrecy. They whittle away at the public's right to know, exempting certain types of information for FOIA.
They try to have it both ways. Voters like openness, so politicians keep the documents public. They just render them useless with a black pen.
When an agency releases a document, it can redact it. That's the practice of blacking out portions, and it's something government officials abuse to great effect.
Rather than demonstrate the power of redaction with a boring government document, we pulled an American classic from the shelf, one that most people read in school and are familiar with.
Below is the second paragraph of Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." If the government had its way, the text wouldn't make much sense.
Visit blogs.roanoke.com/roundable to read the original passage and see what you're missing.
Then think about thwat else you're missing. What embarassing facts and criminal acts do elected officials hide with a black pen?
