Massachusetts has been named the 2026 recipient of the Black Hole Award, a national designation issued annually by the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) to spotlight the most secretive government entities in the United States. The award is intended to call out public institutions that “thwart the free flow of information,” and this year SPJ concluded that no state does so more comprehensively than Massachusetts.
The SPJ has singled out the Commonwealth for its annual “dishonor” reserved for the government body that most egregiously undermines the public’s right to know. For Amherst residents who depend on information from Beacon Hill to understand decisions on schools, housing, and climate, the award is more than symbolic—it is a warning flare.
The core issue is structural: Massachusetts is the only state in the nation where the governor’s office, the legislature, and the judiciary all claim to be exempt from the state public records law. In practice, that shields the most powerful corners of state government from the basic transparency rules that apply elsewhere in the country…