Let the Sun Shine

It’s Sunshine Week, celebrating open government and public access. Here’s my op-ed, which appeared in today’s Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Here’s a preview:

Hustler law will damage access

Restricting or enlarging current law is not the way to remedy the release of disturbing crime scene photos, yet the state Legislature seems poised to do just that. Last month, a true-crime reporter working for Hustler magazine requested photos depicting Meredith Emerson’s nude and decapitated body under Georgia’s public disclosure records laws. In 2008, Emerson was brutally killed while hiking with her dog in North Georgia. The atrocities were horrid and disturbing.

Hustler is now revisiting Emerson’s death for a possible feature in its pages. More widely known for its photos of nude (but living) women, Hustler is no ordinary media outlet. Understandably, last month’s request dismayed the slain woman’s family. But it’s disappointing that it created such pandemonium at the state Capitol that legislators scrambled to pass a law preventing the release of such photos.