Gerry Lanosga: Check ‘facts’ on social media before sharing
Stop spreading the B.S. that comes across your feed.
Gerry Lanosga / Special to IBJ
Articles
Gerry Lanosga: Cities must be open about data collection, data itself
Public officials need to be as bold and creative about public transparency as they want to be about innovation in technology.
Gerry Lanosga: Mitch Daniels is wrong about government transparency
Technological changes in record-keeping do not change the underlying principles of government accountability.
Gerry Lanosga: This is no time to keep your mouth shut
Incivility isn’t a crime, and approaching and criticizing an official in a public place is not harassment.
Gerry Lanosga: Why ‘opposition media’ is a key part of democracy
Don’t just question authority—challenge it, regularly.
Gerry Lanosga: Debates must be about candidates, issues and voters
Some ongoing criticism of the debate commission, including here in Forefront, reflected a fundamental lack of understanding about how we work and why we exist.
Gerry Lanosga: Newsprint tariffs could stretch papers to breaking point
Newspapers have played, and continue to play, a disproportionate role as the backbone of our public discourse.
LANOSGA: Indiana Debate Commission’s role is nonpartisan
Voters in statewide contests are not well-served by debates that are aired or covered only in limited corners of Indiana.
LANOSGA: Transparency, records are backbone of democracy
The Trump administration has shown little but contempt for the public’s right to know.
LANOSGA: Providing public records is part of public duty
Taxpayers have already paid for the compilation and disclosure of public records.
LANOSGA: Citizens need better access to government Big Data
Gov. Mike Pence recently signed an executive order creating a data-sharing project called the Governor’s Management and Performance Hub. The idea is to have a centralized clearinghouse for public data that top policymakers can use to systematically analyze problems—child fatalities and infant mortality, for instance—and the state’s handling of them.
LANOSGA: Run government like a business? Which business?
Which is better: business or government? Before you answer, consider two cases.
LANOSGA: Got a warrant for my cell phone information?
I’ve written a fair bit in these pages about the pitfalls of official secrecy—the often unjustified withholding of information by public agencies at all levels of government.
LANOSGA: Education board desecrated meetings law
In the state law that requires government meetings to be open to the public, there’s a wonderful preamble expressing the philosophy behind the statute. The intent of the Open Door Law, it declares, is “that the official action of public agencies be conducted and taken openly … in order that the people may be fully informed.”
LANOSGA: In government, clarity trumps efficiency
Here’s something to ponder in the wake of the big stories that keep trickling out from the emails released by state Superintendent of Public Education Glenda Ritz: What if the emails in question had been from her own tenure in that office? Or, what if a reporter had asked Tony Bennett for the same emails while he was still in office (or asked for the emails from then-Gov. Mitch Daniels)?
LANOSGA: And you thought the feds were secretive
Some of the most secret governments are on the local level.
LANOSGA: Why the media obsess over awards
The news business is in the thick of contest season. You’ve probably noticed.
LANOSGA: Small losses erode a bedrock principle
Will Rogers once said, “Congress is in session; hold onto your wallets.” Now, with the General Assembly in session, and with Rogers’ spirit of affectionate cynicism, I offer a corollary: “Hold onto your open government.