Tracking Your Newsroom’s FOIA Requests and Building Resources
By Bryan Gardiner
Holly Heyser and Susan Seager
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Filing a FOIA request is merely the first step to getting the information you need – as in most things, it’s the tracking and follow-up that make all the difference.
That’s how David Donald, training director at the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting, began his presentation, “Using FOIA and Open Records,” part of the Western Knight Center’s seminar “Going Beyond the Agenda: Investigating Local Government.”
Donald outlined documents and databases reporters should seek out, including:
- Public employee salaries
- Inspection records and audits
- Disciplinary records
- Disclosure reports and contracts
- Tax and Property records
- Government seizures
Donald pointed out that correspondence from mayors, city council members and other public officials is also a great resource to reporters, and one that is often overlooked.
“It’s amazing how many of them use e-mail, thinking it disappears when they hit the delete button,” he said.
Donald highlighted internet resources such as the database at http://www.rcfp.org which has copies of all 50 states’ laws. He also referred those attending the session to http://www.rcfp.org/foi_letter/generate.php, where reporters who aren’t used to generating their own FOIA letters can fill out an online form that creates a request.
Other useful sites in Donald’s presentation included the Society for Professional Journalists Open Doors FOI resource (http://www.spj.org/foia_opendoors.asp), which contains a useful “A-Z” guide about finding subject information quickly and the Society for Environmental Journalists FOIA site (http://www.sej.org/foia/index.htm), where reporters can find out which types of FOIA requests have worked in the past and which ones haven’t. This site also includes a “FOIA War Stories” page.
Echoing what Holly Heyser said in her previous presentation, Donald said that when reporters file FOIA requests, it is important that they continue to track them.
He suggested keeping a log of requests where reporters make note of:
- Document or database requested
- Date and Time
- How the request was made (fax, E-mail, Snail mail)
- Who was contacted
- Who took your call or responded
- What was the response
- Follow up date
“If you have to make a follow up phone call,” Donald said, “there’s nothing better when you’re trying to impress the person on the other line then talking in as detailed a way as possible.”
“For instance, if they say, ‘well, I don’t remember you asking for that.’ You can say not only did I do it on April 2, but I called at 2:26 p.m., and we talked for four minutes and you promised to get them to me…that goes a long way.”
Donald also stressed the importance of planning and negotiating during the FOIA request process. He said reporters should always try to find out who has the record ahead of time.
“There’s nothing worse than being bounced around from office to office…so it’s good to find out who the record keeper is ahead of time.”
Furthermore, if reporters are hitting a brick wall at a local level, it’s possible that the state agency will be less likely to put up a wall.
“Sometimes the further away that official is from where you are—so there’s less impact on his or her life—the more likely it is they’ll give it up,” Donald said.
He concluded his talk by citing a few ways reporters can overcome some of the common denials they might run into when filing requests or trying to access databases.
“Just ask for it,” Donald said. “Don’t assume it’ll always be tough.”
He also told reporters to check the web sites of various companies they’re investigating.
“It’s amazing how many agencies will deny reporters data that can be found on their web sites,” he said. “Bureaucrats, in general, don’t know what goes up on the web.”
Asking for the single record at first can also be a useful strategy.
“It’s a huge database. The person is flustered. All you’re trying to prove to them is that they can do it,” Donald said.
He concluded his talk by again stressing the importance of creating a “FOI-oriented newsroom.”
“We should think about filing FOIs the way Chicago thinks about voting…early and often.”
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