ATLANTA — Articles, columns, guest editorials and educational materials on the subject of government transparency are available for free from the Transparency Project of Georgia. 

Anyone can access the free materials simply by visiting transparencyprojectofgeorgia.com.

At the website, users will find a tab for free editorials, along with information for the general public, elected officials, journalists and law-enforcement personnel. Users will also find important open government resource links.

In addition, the Transparency Project of Georgia, in partnership with the Georgia First Amendment Foundation, educates community groups, public officials and students through workshops and seminars and assists the media in the interest of creating greater openness in local government while holding elected representatives accountable. 

The project began with the work of journalists advocating for openness in local government. Much of the original work on the project was done by Kelsey Cochran, Johnny Jackson, Kathy Jefcoats, Heather Middleton, Rachel Shirey and Curt Yeomans under the direction of their editor Jim Zachary, who also created and directed the Tennessee Transparency Project. Much of the work was originally published as a special edition of the Henry Daily Herald and the Clayton News Daily, Southern Community Newspapers, Inc., newspapers previously edited by Zachary. 

Zachary, director of the Transparency Project of Georgia, is Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. regional editor for Georgia and Florida newspapers, editor of The Valdosta Daily Times, chairman and president of the Red & Black Publishing Company, Inc., serving the University of Georgia, a member of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation board of directors and the Grady School of Journalism and Mass Communication Board of Trust and has been a featured speaker focusing on government watchdog reporting and transparency issues with the Georgia Press Association, the Georgia College Press Association, the Tennessee Press Association and the Georgia First Amendment Foundation, as well as community groups and newsrooms.