THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE CENTER

It being essential to the fundamental philosophy of the American constitutional form of representative government and to the maintenance of a democratic society that public business be performed in an open and public manner, and that citizens be advised of and be aware of the performance of public officials and the deliberations and decisions that go into the making of public policy, it is hereby declared to be the policy of the State of Mississippi that the formation and determination of public policy is public business and shall be conducted at open meetings except as otherwise provided herein.

So begins the Mississippi Open Meetings Law, establishing the principle that public government must be open to the public. The Mississippi Public Records Act grants citizens the right of public access to public records:

 All public records are hereby declared to be public property, and any person shall have the right to inspect, copy of mechanically reproduce or obtain a reproduction of any public record of a public body in accordance with reasonable written procedures…No public body shall adopt procedures which will authorize the public body to produce or deny the production of a public record later than fourteen working days from the date of request for the production of such record.

THE CENTER'S MISSION
The mission of the Mississippi Center for Freedom of Information is to safeguard these freedoms that protect the public’s right to know about the public’s business.

Click the logo above to read a series on secrecy in Mississippi

Read Sunshine Week Artciles:

• Public's Right to Know improves accountability
• Bills would improve transparency in Miss.
• Public records access may improve Bills deal with enforcement, cost
• Limits put on investigative exemptions for Miss. public records
• DMR needs more, not less, oversight
• You must take command of your right to know
• A little more sunshine