FOI

Freedom of Information and Open Records : 

Freedom of Information and Open Records

Overview : 

Overview Stories and open records Documents and databases to seek Resources for your newsroom Tracking your newsrooms FOI requests Planning, requesting and negotiating Overcoming common denials Guiding reporters to successful practices

Slide3: 

The Blade (Toledo) FOI: The Blade obtained extensive investigative files from the military and the National Archives. Findings: The Blade detailed atrocities committed by a platoon in Vietnam.

Slide4: 

Newsday FOI: Newsday obtained doctor directories from the Web and through an open records request the database of disciplinary actions taken against doctors. Findings: 'Despite promises of high quality and rigorous screening, New York's biggest managed health care networks offered customers dozens of doctors disciplined for serious, even fatal-wrongdoing, Newsday reveals. Even though the health insurers are aware that the state punished these doctors for such offenses as botched surgery, sexual misconduct, drug abuse or cheating government insurance plans, they never tell their millions of customers.'

Slide5: 

The Washington Post FOI: The Post obtained through open records requests death certificates, police reports, autopsies, caseworker notes, hospital records and internal death summaries. Findings: 40 boys and girls, most of them infants and toddlers – lost their lives after government workers failed to take key preventive action or placed children in unsafe homes or institutions. Although 15 of the 40 deaths were ruled to be due to natural causes, government officials reviewing those cases found numerous critical errors. Seventeen of the deaths were homicides, most of them in homes.

Slide6: 

The Dayton Daily News FOI: The Daily News obtained Peace Corps records through FOIA and court battles. Findings: The Daily News detailed unreported assaults, rapes and murders against Peace Corps volunteers.

Slide7: 

Detroit Free Press FOI: State freedom of information request of 500,000-record database from Michigan Department of Community Health. Findings: the Detroit Free Press pinpointed the neighborhoods with the worst lead poisoned children in Michigan. Areas of Grand Rapids, Detroit and Benton Harbor showed the highest concentrations of sick children. Also found that state health officials did not use the data to zero in on these areas. WORST MICHIGAN NEIGHBORHOODS: Lead-poisoned blocks pinpointed Funding doesn't target areas with clusters of children most in need BY WENDY WENDLAND- BOWYER, TINA LAM AND MEGAN CHRISTENSEN FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS July 29, 2003 It is the worst hot spot for lead-poisoned kids in Michigan, a neighborhood of tree-lined blocks in southwestern Grand Rapids where kids ride bikes past century-old houses and play on porches with peeling paint. Ninety-one lead-poisoned children have lived on those three blocks in the last five years, suffering the effects of a poison that harms their brains and ability to develop. The neighborhood has the most lead-poisoned children of any identified in the state, according to a Free Press analysis of Michigan Department of Community Health data.

Slide8: 

U.S. Rarely Seeks Charges For Deaths in Workplace By DAVID BARSTOW; Remy Gerstein and Robin Stein contributed additional reporting for this article. The data analysis was done by Tom Torok 100 workers die each year as result of acts of intentional wrongdoing or plain indifference; they died because a boss removed safety devices to speed up production, or because a company ignored explicit safety warnings, or because a worker was denied proper protective gear. Officials at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration have long described these cases as 'horror stories' and pledged to press wherever possible for criminal charges against those responsible. An examination of workplace deaths over a span of two decades, from 1982 to 2002, finds that OSHA declined to seek prosecution in 93 percent of such 'horror stories' it investigated. OSHA's reluctance to seek prosecution persists even when employers have been cited before for very same safety violation. The New York Times FOI: The Times used federal and state open records laws to obtain details on workplace deaths and injuries. Findings: For twenty years, 93 percent of the cases in which OSHA determined an employer's 'willful safety violations' caused a death, the agency declined to prosecute. Note: IRE and NICAR offer four sets of OSHA workplace safety data through the Database Library.

Slide9: 

Atlanta Journal-Constitution FOI: Driving and criminal records obtained under Georgia Open Records Laws. Findings: Seventy-two percent of the drivers had a serious violation on his or her personal or professional driving record, ranging from excessive speed to DUI. In the past seven years, 622 taxicab drivers have had their licenses suspended, including 94 who currently have a suspended driver's license. What's more, the investigation found 63 taxicab drivers with criminal records in Georgia, including 10 who had spent time in prison. The charges included armed robbery, child molestation and kidnapping.

Slide10: 

The Washington Post FOI: The Post used federal and state freedom of information requests to obtain pharmaceutical and physician prescription records. Findings: The Post detailed a expanding illegal trade in prescription drugs that can lead to injury and death.

Slide11: 

The Center for Public Integrity FOI: CPI used 73 FOIA requests to obtain contract and bidding information. Findings: The Center detailed how companies and individuals who were big contributors to Bush’s campaigns are making billions of dollars in war contracts.

Stories : 

Stories 'Honor and Betrayal' – KMGH-TV 7 'Deep Trouble: The Gulf in Peril' – Naples Daily News 'The Station Fire: Who was there, and why did 100 die' – The Providence Journal 'A Dangerous Business' – Frontline, New York Times and CBC 'Crumbling Schools' – The Miami Herald

Stories : 

Stories 'Children Die as Safety Net Fails' – The Kansas City Star 'Still Drunk, Still Driving' – WITI-TV 'Perks of Power' – WTVF-TV 'Dearth andamp; Taxes' – The Metro Times 'The Texas Clemency Memos' – The Atlantic Monthly

Documents and Databases : 

Documents and Databases Public employee salaries Accidents Inspections Audits Disciplinary records, worker disputes Investigations E-mail Disclosure reports Contracts

Documents and Databases : 

Documents and Databases Education Tax records Property records Government seizures Inventories Purchases Expenses

Web sites and help: 

Web sites and help Reporter’s Committee for Freedom of the Press – www.rcfp.org and www.rcfp.org/foi_lett.html Includes FOI letter generator Investigative Reporters and Editors – www.ire.org/foi and www.ire.org/extraextra/archives Organizes resources and stories based on open records Missouri School of Journalism FOI Center – http://foi.missouri.edu/~foiwww/ Offers excellent, easy-to-find links

Web sites and help: 

Web sites and help Society for Professional Journalists Open Doors FOI resource – http://www.spj.org/foia_opendoors.asp Use its 'A-Z' guide to find subject information quickly Society of Environmental Journalists – http://www.sej.org/foia/index Find out what’s worked and hasn’t in its 'Tip Sheet' and 'FOI War Stories' pages

Tracking FOIs : 

Tracking FOIs Keeping a log of requests Document or database requested? Date and Time? How requested – Fax, E-mail, Snail mail? Who was contacted? Who contacted? Response? Careful follow-up

Planning, Negotiating: 

Who has the record? Who do they share it with? Has it been released before? The law and possible exemptions? What information is needed for the story? How much time do you have? Planning, Negotiating

Overcoming denials: 

Overcoming denials Just ask Check the Web Asking for a single record Going to a different agency Going up a management level Getting details on expenses Narrowing the request Planning for redaction Knowing the law, planning the appeal Court as a last resort

Guiding reporters: 

Guiding reporters Create an FOI-oriented newsroom An FOI every day An FOI on every story Filing FOIs early and often Write about denials when appropriate Explain the usefulness of public records – protecting the public

More IRE resources: 

More IRE resources IRE Resource Center: www.ire.org/resoucecenter/ Contest forms with FOI questions More than 2,000 tip sheets from IRE and NICAR conferences Searchable database of more than 20,000 stories, both print and broadcast

More IRE resources: 

More IRE resources Training opportunities at http://www.ire.org/training/ Better Watchdog Workshops for more on investigative techniques NICAR boot camps IRE membership is the key at http://www.ire.org/membership

Where it begins: 

Where it begins