VALDOSTA — Valdosta State University held a Journalism and Government Transparency Forum Saturday at the Odum Library.

The event, which was attended by journalists, VSU students and members of the community, discussed Georgia’s sunshine laws, the First Amendment, and how members of the community, not just journalists, could use both to their advantage.

Speakers at the event included Jim Zachary, The Valdosta Daily Times editor and the director of the Transparency Project of Georgia; Hollie Manheimer, Georgia First Amendment Foundation executive director; Dr. Pat Miller, VSU English professor; and Dr. Ted Geltner, VSU assistant professor of English.

“It is remarkable to me that we need laws to tell government to give us our property,” Zachary said. “Every document held in every government hall is our possession and we have to have laws to tell government to give it to us when we want it. It is remarkable to me that we have to have laws to tell us that we have rights to access the deliberations of government. Every piece of business government does, every dime and every penny government spends, whether you’re talking federal government, state government, the city council, the county commission, the board of education or the trustees, is the people’s business.”

Zachary said the Founding Fathers made it a priority that “British tyranny is not replaced with a new federal government tyranny.”

Speakers discussed how the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prevents governments from limiting speech, religious freedom, the press, the ability to assemble or the ability to petition the government for a redress of grievances, is crucial to making American society the way it is.

“In 45 words, the Founders guaranteed us the five, and maybe six, basic American freedoms,” Zachary said. “Without those freedoms, we are not really what we claim to be. We are not an open, free and democratic society if we do not have an unfettered press. We are not an open, free and democratic society if you do not have the freedom to speak out, even if your speech is stupid. Even if what you’re saying is disagreeable, or critical of government, or sadly, even if what you are saying is disgusting to the sensibilities of other people.”

Speakers discussed Georgia’s sunshine laws, and Manheimer distributed books on the sunshine laws – the “red book” titled “A Citizen’s Guide to Open Government,” which details the Georgia Open Meetings Act and the Georgia Open Records Act; the “blue book” titled “A Law Enforcement Officer’s Guide to Open Records in Georgia,” which details open records laws for law-enforcement officers.

Joe Adgie is a reporter for the Valdosta Daily Times.