With Good Reason

Secrecy in the Sunshine Era


Listen Later

In the 1970s, a series of laws ushered in a new “sunshine era” of unprecedented government transparency. In his new book Secrecy in the Sunshine Era, Jason Ross Arnold (Virginia Commonwealth University) investigates how, despite these reforms, government officials developed new workarounds, including overclassification, concealment, shredding, and burning. And: Has the Magna Carta’s 800-year legacy been a snowball of misinterpretations? Thomas McSweeney (College of William and Mary) says he doesn’t think its authors intended it to be the foundational text for common law that it became. Plus: Last year, a commission of experts found new history textbooks approved by the Board of Education in Texas were pushing a specific ideology. One of the experts, Emile Lester (University of Mary Washington), says parts of the textbooks weren’t just misleading; they were false.
Later in the show: Waldo Jaquith is a pioneer in using the web to foster more open and accessible government. His projects include Ethics.gov for the White House, States Decoded, and a website that allows users to watch video of floor action in state capitols and even vote on what they’d like to see in a bill. Also featured: Electronic health records can save billions of dollars and increase patient safety. But in the United States, they can also put individual privacy at risk, more so than in the European Union. Janine Hiller (Virginia Tech) spent a semester in Sweden studying Europe’s approach to balancing patient privacy and health rights. And: Wikipedia has been viewed with skepticism or worse in the academic community. But Kyle Nicholas (Old Dominion University) has his students edit Wikipedia pages to develop their critical thinking skills and media literacy.
...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

With Good ReasonBy With Good Reason

  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8

4.8

49 ratings


More shows like With Good Reason

View all
On the Media by WNYC Studios

On the Media

9,163 Listeners

The Book Review by The New York Times

The Book Review

3,857 Listeners

KERA's Think by KERA

KERA's Think

925 Listeners

On Point | Podcast by WBUR

On Point | Podcast

3,900 Listeners

This American Life by This American Life

This American Life

90,920 Listeners

Fresh Air by NPR

Fresh Air

38,189 Listeners

The Political Scene | The New Yorker by WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

The Political Scene | The New Yorker

3,954 Listeners

The New Yorker Radio Hour by WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

The New Yorker Radio Hour

6,670 Listeners

The Daily by The New York Times

The Daily

111,917 Listeners

It's Been a Minute by NPR

It's Been a Minute

8,933 Listeners

Radio Atlantic by The Atlantic

Radio Atlantic

2,321 Listeners

The Ezra Klein Show by New York Times Opinion

The Ezra Klein Show

15,321 Listeners

The Interview by The New York Times

The Interview

1,469 Listeners

The Opinions by The New York Times Opinion

The Opinions

455 Listeners

The New York Times Narrated by The New York Times

The New York Times Narrated

36 Listeners