Colin Donohue

Public records are just that--public. Every citizen is entitled to view records of an arrest warrant and go to certain government meetings--and they should be allowed to do so. Protecting and celebrating these rights is what the Sunshine Center and the North Carolina Open Government Coalition does annually during its Sunshine Day events.

An attorney with Brooks Pierce updated Sunshine Day attendees on government transparency, saying that threats to openness in government in North Carolina remain.

Hugh Stevens, the president of the North Carolina Open Government Coalition, expressed his gratitude to the various organizations that have supported the coalition at the beginning of Sunshine Day on March 16. The event was hosted at the International Civil Rights Center and Museum in Greensboro, N.C.

School of Communications staff member Colin Donohue had a book review published in the Spring 2007 issue of Newspaper Research Journal. Donohue, the Coordinator of Student Media for the school, reviewed the book Baseball and the Media: How Fans Lose in Today's Coverage of the Game by George Castle, a Chicago Cubs beat writer for the Times of Northwest Indiana.

Katherine Branston '09 and Lee Bush, associate professor in the School of Communications, had a paper published in a special nonprofit issue of the international online public relations journal PRism.

By Dale Harrison, Sunshine Center: The American public becomes quite agitated when a public servant considers himself or herself “above the law” or the ethical obligations of public office. Such transgressions have done much to erode our confidence in the American system. It is a narcissistic view that has brought down a U.S. president and, more recently, governors from Illinois to New York (and threatens the current governor of the latter). It further continues to severely stain the service record of countless former officials, including the former chief executive of our own state.

From the Raleigh News and Observer (3/13/10): The Star-News of Wilmington last year asked the New Hanover Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, a public agency, to list staff salaries.

Communications assistant professors and Elon Center for Advancement in Teaching and Learning Scholars Sang Nam and Phillip Motley presented at the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Commons 2010 at Georgia Southern University March 9-12.