Each one of us, as a citizen, is subject thus to the laws and rules of their government, and of which, some of these governments perform their functions heroically; whereas many a government most distinctly does not. The best structure of any government is one in which the citizens, themselves, have a meaningful voice within that governance; in addition to that government never superseding the unalienable rights of any of that population.
One of the most important functions within any government, is the freedom of the people to express themselves, via the written word or verbally, so done through all of the modern means that a given individual can avail themselves of. Those governments that have a vibrant and robust freedom of the press and speech, clearly are those governments, which do not fear the people having an active voice, and actually will encourage it, even in those times that it might well be inconvenient for that government, because such is properly seen by the astute within that government as being healthy for that society at large. On the other hand, many a government wants to control the narrative of what is or isn’t going to be said or printed; and more to the point, believe in the type of control, which often necessitates rather heavy penalties for all those that will not adhere to the orthodox point of view, so disseminated by that government.
When it comes to freedom of speech as well as of the press, there is a corollary to this, which is that those freedoms are dependent upon the population having the right to know what their government is or is not doing on behalf of them. That is to say, governments that make it their point to be overly secretive, or deceptive, or outright liars to the people, especially in those areas of most concern to the people, are by definition, inimical to the people; for by the people not knowing, and further to the point, not having the actionable right to know what needs to be known, thereby makes it well-nigh impossible for that citizenry to really know what is or is not going on by that government, in their name.
So then, it thus makes a lot of common sense that the best government is never one that has layer upon layer of secrecy, and/or that monitors its people by an intrusive and obtrusive surveillance state; but rather is a government that is, to the degree so possible, open, transparent, forthcoming, and a firm believer that the public that it has been formed to served, is served in a fair and just manner. This thus signifies that in order for the public to be assured that all is well, there needs to be a robust forum which provides those citizens with the information and the details of governmental actions so taken, of which, the Freedom of Information Act, is a good example of such.
In sum, the general public should and must have the Right to Know what their government is or is not doing on their supposed behalf; for when this information is unjustly withheld, this is akin to having freedom of speech and of the press, being compromised in such a way that it is the equivalency of the collective citizenry having one hand tied behind their back.