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This Sunshine Week, Florida reflects an alarming national trend of blocking the public’s access to information
Public access to records faces longer delays, high fees, and closed requests amid staffing cuts and secrecy policies, with Florida charging average copy fees of $1,623, MuckRock reports.
- During Sunshine Week, Florida agencies are thwarting the public's right to be informed, including attempts to hide Alligator Alcatraz, with the public-record release rate at 39% in March 2026.
- Administrative changes including firing the national archivist and Office of Information Policy director pushed out FOIA staff during the 2025 U.S. DOGE purges, prompting state and local authorities to adopt federal-style secrecy protections and agencies like the Department of Energy to close pending requests.
- Processing times indicate that 11 agencies reported in January, with backlogs rising and fees on 24% of requests averaging US$1,623, according to MuckRock.
- Disclosure statistics show rates fell from about 39% in 2019 to 35% in 2025, reducing records available to the public, and the federal government under the second Trump administration has eviscerated document access, shrinking oversight.
- Historically, advocates argue FOIA's nearly six-decade arc toward transparency appears to be reversing, with scholars like Jane Kirtley warning of a decline in government openness.
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17 Articles
17 Articles
The Conversation+16 Reposted by 16 other sources
This Sunshine Week, Florida reflects an alarming national trend of blocking the public’s access to information
By all measures, the ability to see what the government is up to in the United States has plummeted to new depths since the beginning of the second Trump administration. For National Sunshine Week in 2025, I wrote about secrecy creep, the adoption of federal secrecy protections implemented by state and local authorities. In Florida and throughout the United States, this threatens the public’s right to be informed about its government. A year lat…
Coverage Details
Total News Sources17
Leaning Left3Leaning Right1Center5Last UpdatedBias Distribution56% Center
Bias Distribution
- 56% of the sources are Center
56% Center
L 33%
C 56%
11%
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