[Lwvcnmtopics] LWVCNM Monthly Meeting Thursday March 9th noon -1pm Zoom Only - Sunshine Month presents Searchlight New Mexico

[Starlyn Brown]

Please join us on Thursday, March 9, Noon—1 PM, Zoom ONLY for our Monthly meeting.
This month we have two presenters from Searchlight New Mexico, managing editor Amy Linn and staff writer Lindsay Fendt. The Zoom invitation follows the meeting description.

Sunshine Month presents Searchlight New Mexico

Transparency and Open Government are critical policies for the League from Washington DC to local communities. To recognize the League’s commitment to a transparent government — one that does not hide things from the people and does not conduct business behind closed doors — we have a special March unit meeting devoted to Sunshine. LWVCNM is excited to welcome staff from Searchlight New Mexico, an online 
“independent, nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization that strives to uphold high standards of fairness and accuracy.” Find Searchlight New Mexico and its content at https://searchlightnm.org

Searchlight has articles on a variety of topics, including: Criminal Justice, Education, Environment, Health, Housing, Immigration, Government and Tribal Affairs. Searchlight has also produced a number of series guaranteed to cause a reaction from smiles to anger to fear to cursing to gratitude to tears, all because these series touch upon issues that impact and affect New Mexicans, and alert us to things happening or not happening 
that we did not know about in the first place. 
 
Quoting from its website: Searchlight New Mexico, a registered 501(c)(3) organization, is dedicated to investigative and public service journalism in the interest of the people of New Mexico. Its mission is to deliver high-impact investigative reporting to inspire New Mexicans to demand action on systemic problems that plague our state. Searchlight believes that great reporting can motivate all New Mexicans to confront racial and 
economic inequities, government corruption and negligence, and abuses of power.
 
On March 9, LWVCNM welcomes two Searchlight staff who will discuss the challenges of obtaining public records in a state that habitually denies them to journalists and citizens, often in violation of the IPRA law. They can also talk about how New Mexico’s government officials routinely stonewall the news media, refusing to give interviews and hiding behind PIO officers who release as little information as possible. And they can touch on the general reluctance to speak to the media, even by ordinary citizens. People are (rightfully) worried about retaliation, dogpiling and doxxing on social media, which makes them reluctant to publicly express a point of view. These are difficult times, and those who speak out are vulnerable to attack in ways they never have been before.

LWVCNM is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Sunshine Month Searchlight New Mexico
Time: Mar 9, 2023 12:00 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
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Meeting ID: 883 6420 7833
Passcode: 616273
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