The experts spoke Friday on South Carolina Educational Radio Network about the Freedom of Information Act during the state's Open Government Week, which ends this weekend on "Sunshine Sunday."

Bender recalled the days when Columbia City Council met for a poker game the evening before a council meeting. The council would decide in advance on every item on the agenda then arrive at the next day's meeting without a dissenting vote, he said.

While the days of such flagrant violations are over, some local governments continue to practice old-fashioned ways of doing business, including those in Horry County, Easley and Pickens, Rogers said.

A good deal of FOIA challenges concern school board meetings, Bender said. Often this is because school board seats are entry-level political posts and the board is under the control of a superintendent who controls information, he said.

One reason people don't follow the law is ignorance, another part is the "desire to do things in a smoke-filled back room," Rogers said. "Democracy is messy. You have a public hearing and public come in and raise Cain. It's much easier to just do it quietly."

But there are penalties for doing so. Rogers recalled when Sumter County Council passed a business tax during a secret meeting a few years ago. When the decision was challenged by taxpayers, the courts required the county to pay back all taxes collected plus interest.

The Freedom of Information Act passed in South Carolina in the mid-1970s, and it's been amended several times since. The press association hopes to further amend the act next legislative session by improving the executive session statute, Rogers said.

The FOIA was created "to promote democracy," said Bender, and is used by newspapers of all sizes.

Bender said one case he dealt with involved access reporters and photographers have to a disaster scene. A photographer from The (Sumter) Item was arrested and his camera confiscated by local law enforcement because he was taking pictures of an Amtrak train that derailed in Lugoff. While Bender said the photographer might have been trespassing on railroad right of way, law enforcement had no right to stop him from taking pictures of the wreck.

The case was settled, and the photographer had his camera and film returned. The newspaper donated its settlement to the press association to help underwrite FOIA lawsuits brought by small papers who might not otherwise be able to pay, Bender said.

Rogers and Bender emphasize that the Freedom of Information Act is for the public, not just the press. Citizens can use the law to get information ranging from applications for business licenses to crime reports in a neighborhood.

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