BOSTON — Citing the importance of public access to information, a statewide organization of newspaper publishers honored Northampton state Rep. Peter Kocot on Friday for his role in reforming the state’s 40-year-old public records law.
“At no time has it been more important that newspapers are critical analysts,” Kocot said at the Massachusetts Newspaper Publishers Association annual luncheon in Boston.
Kocot and Sen. Joan Lovely, D-Salem, co-chaired a conference committee that wrote a new public records law allowing citizens and journalists to obtain records faster and at less cost. The law goes into effect Jan. 1.
Both legislators were recognized for that effort with NEPA’s inaugural William L. Plante Jr. Open Government Award at the association’s luncheon.
The reception also featured a keynote speech from Attorney General Maura Healey, who cited the importance of the media, referencing backlash from the presidential election.
“One thing I think we need to do going forward is engage in collaborative leadership and go beyond the rhetoric, and find ways to talk about issues and policy … and do it in a way that is thoughtful, respectful and pays attention to fact,” Healey said to the room full of newspaper editors, journalists and media lawyers. “You all have such a critical role to play in that endeavor.”
Healey also discussed the troubling advent of fake news websites that spread throughout the presidential election campaign, saying she supports any efforts of the newspaper industry to address the issue.
“We want an electorate that really understands and is informed,” she said. “This, to me, is not a partisan issue. It is an issue of democracy.”
As attorney general, Healey recognizes it is part of her responsibility to listen to the public, noting the important role news publications play in that.
“It’s not just what I want to put out there and what (my office) wants to do,” she said. “It’s being responsive to the likes of you and your teams who are covering the issues, covering events and looking for answers.”
In the aftermath of the election, Healey said there were a number of reports of harassment and intimidation against immigrant, racial, ethnic and religious groups. That led her office to set up a support hotline, which has received over 1,000 calls to date.
“The issue of civil rights is something I take quite serious,” she said. “What I want to make clear as attorney general, is that we have laws in place and we are going to enforce them, and we are going to protect people.”
Healey also listed education and student debt as areas her office will continue to focus on, saying she recently put together a working group with Jim Rooney, head of the Boston Chamber of Commerce, Fidelity Investments and citizens to find ways to help families refinance educational opportunities.
The group is also thinking about ways to better align vocational and educational training offered to students to better suit them for employment opportunities in the state, she said.
While Healey has faced controversy for her ban on assault rifles, she more broadly spoke about common sense gun reform, noting her trip to Washington D.C. earlier this year to lobby Congress to allow the Center for Disease Control to study gun-related issues.
“I happen to think that as one of the most lethal consumer products out there, the CDC, as it studies other products, should be able to study guns, gun violence and trauma … to help us better identify prevention and intervention strategies,” Healey said.
Kaitlin Junod writes for the Gazette from Boston University’s Statehouse program.