Tim Nickens- St. Petersburg Times

The visit by guest speaker Tim Nickens, editorial page editor at St. Petersburg Times, and trustee at First Amendment Foundation, helped me to expend my knowledge of public records and their value. By listening to Mr. Nickens I realized how helpful public records can be to journalists as well as to the general public. Having the strongest open records in Florida makes it easier for us to keep a check on the illegal actions taken by the government. I was surprised how well St. Petersburg Times was able to use public records in order to investigate the unlawful use of public money by Florida's House Speaker, Ray Sansom. The public in the Tampa Bay Area is fortunate to have a great newspaper with aggressive journalists who know how to keep their eyes on the powerful officials in Florida. Mr. Nickens gave us great tips on how to get prepared for public meetings. it was interesting to find that big decisions which impact the most public budgets are made only in the back room by the three most powerful officials of the State. Legislatures are trying to hide their actions as much as they can from the public because they know they will be criticized every time they step out-of-the-proper way. Now legislatures are using texting or phones conversations to talk about their decision making for important issues rather than having an open public meeting. Technology became a double edge source for public records because officials use it as much as they can to hide their actions. I was surprised to hear that there is an issue in the access of personal vs. public e-mails records for the government officials. Mr. Nickens gave us a great tip on how much fees agencies and government can charge when people request public records. Some of those public record houses try to make their own rules on the fees to control the access of public records. We have to remember, 15 cents a copy is the law for public records. Also, the lowest paid staff member is used to perform the supervision of accessing public records by the public. In recent years the media found a great success in the use of public records in order to keep track of political facts that are being used by government candidates in their campaigns. Journalists are able to follow the truth about political campaigning ads and speeches by using the value of public records. To capture my blog I would say that I am surprised to see how many public records are out there for us to use that we don’t even know about. Public records can only help us to make our lives easier and more successful. Public records are there to show society how government uses their power.