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How One Colorado Reporter's Struggle Led To New Open Records Legislation

Bente Birkeland
/
Capitol Coverage

Earlier this month, Fort Collins Coloradoan reporter Nick Coltrain won the First Amendment Award at the Society for Professional Journalists’ Top of the Rockies for a battle with Colorado State University. He wanted to know if there were inequities in pay between men and women -- and discovered there were, but only after a lot of work. The school provided him with a printout of all the information -- 150 pages of an Excel spreadsheet --  rather than the files themselves.

Coltrain’s struggle to convert the printouts into something he could analyze prompted a battle about the public's right to access data. On April 25, a Senate Bill to require electronic records be made available where possible advanced by a 7 to 6 vote in the House Finance Committee.

Statehouse reporter Bente Birkeland spoke with Coltrain about his story and the legislation it sparked.

Bente Birkeland speaks with reporter Nick Coltrain about new open records legislation in Colorado.

On why legislation to modernize public records is controversial:

Coltrain: The controversy has surrounded things like metadata, which [are] all the things hidden in a file. … It’s not just the text on the screen, it’s a lot of background information. Probably the easiest example is the date the file was created.

On the potential danger of metadata: 

Coltrain: If somebody is particularly good with computers, would they be able to go into the metadata, or previous file versions for example, and pull information out that would otherwise be protected information under CORA [Colorado Open Records Act]?

On why there is a broad push to move away from paper records:

Coltrain: It’s very important to just maintaining the public trust between government entities and the public. It could potentially save us a lot of man hours, and provide a better window into how our governments are operating.

Capitol Coverage is a collaborative public policy reporting project, providing news and analysis to communities across Colorado for more than a decade. Fifteen public radio stations participate in Capitol Coverage from throughout Colorado.

Copyright 2017 KUNC

Bente Birkeland has covered Colorado politics and government since spring of 2006. She loves the variety and challenge of the state capitol beat and talking to people from all walks of life. Bente's work has aired on NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered, American PublicMedia'sMarketplace, and she was a contributor for WNYC's The Next Big Thing. She has won numerous local and national awards, including best beat reporting from the Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors. Bente grew up in Minnesota and England, and loves skiing, hiking, and is an aspiring cello player. She lives in Lakewood with her husband.
Bente Birkeland
Bente Birkeland has been reporting on state legislative issues for KUNC and Rocky Mountain Community Radio since 2006. Originally, from Minnesota, Bente likes to hike and ski in her spare time. She keeps track of state politics throughout the year but is especially busy during the annual legislative session from January through early May.
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