Before clases
Reading
- "Flipping Fraud" by Michael Braga, Chris Davis and Matthew Doig, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 2009 (Pulitzer finalist, 2010). Presented by Caelainn Barr.
Note: We're putting off having you read the second story, since it proved a little harder to get than we'd expected.
Watch the narrated slide show on finding and negotiating for electronic public records and review the materials in the Resources section below.
Due Sunday at 5pm: Using strategies you learned in the video and the handouts, explore a state, city or federal agency website of your choosing and write a public records request for a database you might want. It might be a database that is suggested by statistical reports, a dataset that is only partly released on the Web, or one that is kept because of regulation or law. Be sure to review that actual public records law of the jurisdiction you choose before you write your letter. Post lots of questions on Piazza. This will be hard.
In class
- Reading
- Public records exercise review
- Matt Doig will spend the last hour of class with us, and can help tell you more about what editors look for in investigative memos. This will be your introduction to getting started on your story memo.
Resources
You may have already seen some of these resources in your regular investigative reporting work. Skim them again and focus this time on how to request records in their native, digital form as a database or data dump.
Don't miss this
Be sure to read the interview with David Fallis from the January AJR "The Story Behind the Post's Investigation on Guns" regarding his negotiation for records.
Strategies for finding and negotiating for records
- A handout from an IRE Watchdog Workshop from 2011, by Sarah, on pre-reporting your public records reequest.
- A step-by-step approach to getting public records, from Jennifer LaFleur (now at the Center for Investigative Reporting)
- A presentation Sarah gave to a group of statehouse reporters outlining a strategy for finding out what records state agencies hold. There are notes with the slides. This is the state corrolary to the federal electronic public records lecture and presentation above.
- Consider buying The Art of Access, (about $25 for e- or print book) by David Cullier. It is a commonsense approach to public records. Its final chapter covers negotiating for databases.
- Poynter's "Top 38 Excuses" that government agencies give for not being able to fulfill your data request. This was compiled at a 1992 Poynter seminar, and the same excuses are still being used today. Pair it with Jennifer LaFleur's updated "Getting to Yes" presentation for the IRE 2012 conference.
Examples and legal resources
- The Reporters' Committee for the Freedom of the Press has two great guides, one for state and one for federal records laws. They address what is public, what is exempt from the public records act at that level, including whether you have a right to electronic records. You can print out a pdf of any state's full guide using the button on the right side of the pages, like this one for New York.
- An example of a federal FOIA battle with the federal government, annotated, from Sarah.
- Muckrock.com has a collection of local, state and federal public records request that will help you see how they are structured and give you example letters. Some of these letters are better than others, but it gives you a good survey of the landscape.
- The Reporters' Committee still has a basic letter generator for federal and some state requests, but it's mainly been replaced by the new iFOIA project. The Student Press Law Center has a public records request generator for each state. You can use these as a guide to the format, but you need to figure out the details yourself. NOTE: Cities, towns and counties fall under their state's law.
- Look for FOIA logs (DHS example) or old FOIA requests to see what others have gotten. A few agencies are using the federal FOIA Portal, but they have stopped posting their FOIA logs. The logs are often more useful. Always look under "FOIA" in the agency, and for "Frequently requested records" or "proactive disclosures."
Selecting a topic for your story memo (repeat from last week)
- Another handout from Mike Berens, this time on choosing stories.
- USA Today's Alison Young's slide show and tipsheet on generating investigative ideas
- IRE's resource center query for "car" + "ideas".
- Mary Jo Webster's tip sheet on A Data State of Mind