Open Records

Having been on the Georgia beat when this law first came into being and being at the press conferences and athletic facility when it was being discussed, this topic hits close to home.

My feelings on it really haven’t changed — that it is a way to directly impede the flow of information and shield from transparency. The claim specifically for Georgia is that this will help the team become more successful, but to me that is a fallacy. The policy worked just fine under Mark Richt, and no one really complained. The Fetty Wap incident certainly tipped the scales and shifted any thought at all if there it existed to go back to the old law.

What really matters is what this will mean for the near and forseeable future, and that is a scale that is tipped in the balance of athletic programs who will have an almost autonomy to act without accountability. Ninety days is a long time for information to be processed, and more importantly, for any potential damage control to be prepared for. To me, at a baseline level this is a “Too bad you can’t have it.” That is childish and petty, and it’s a shame that it has come to this, that programs feel as though they need a giant shield to protect their sanctity.