Poll: US Public Believes Open Government Data Will Improve Media Coverage

A majority of US citizens think open-government data can help journalists cover state activities more effectively, a poll by Pew Research Center revealed Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – On May 9, 2013, US President Barack Obama signed an executive order to make information about government operations more available and transparent. Open government is generally defined as allowing citizens access to documents and government proceedings for the purposes of effective public oversight, in part mitigating secrecy by the state.

According to the poll, 56 percent of US citizens support open data initiatives for better government coverage by media, while 41 percent said it would not help the press.

More than a half of those polled, 53 percent, think open government data will make officials more accountable to the public. Slightly lower number, 45 percent, do not believe in it.

People are divided on whether open data can improve the quality of state services, with 49 percent saying it could and the equal amount saying it could not.

The majority of US citizens do not think open data would allow them to have more impact on government affairs or would result in better decisions by officials.

According to the Pew Research Center, 3,212 took part in the survey that was conducted in English and Spanish between November 17 and December 15, 2014.