Resource Video
GIJC23 – FOIA/RTI Investigations
More than half of the world’s countries have laws that require officials to supply public documents on request, offering valuable windows for reporters.
Tag
RTI
16 posts
GIJN Webinar in Hindi: Using RTI in Investigative Journalism
In this GIJN Webinar, exclusively in Hindi, we bring together journalists and experts who will share their experiences and suggest various ways to innovatively use the RTI Act for investigative journalism. Apart from suggesting ways to sniff out wrongdoings in government spendings, they will also offer tips on how to extract information by framing RTI queries in a creative manner.
News & Analysis
Writers Under Surveillance: Hunter S Thompson’s FBI Files
The power of the pen — writers are so dangerous that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation deemed it necessary to start surveillance on many of them, including Hannah Arendt, Allen Ginsberg, Ernest Hemingway, Susan Sontag, and Hunter S Thompson. The book “Writers Under Surveillance” gathers some of these investigation files that were obtained with Freedom of Information Act requests by MuckRock.
Resource
Document of the Day: Beginner’s Guide to Requesting an FBI File
How can a journalist request Federal Bureau of Investigation’s files on an individual? MuckRock’s JPat Brown prepared a useful step-by-step flowchart guide for all scenarios to help you make sure you’ve gathered all the materials you need before you file that FOIA.
Case Studies
Meet the Man Who Filed 1,400 FOI Requests to Prove Data Acquisition Isn’t Terrorism
For the last three years Gavin Chait has been fighting — and winning — multiple freedom of information cases to unlock data on vacant properties. Here are the lengths he took to disprove the City of London’s excuse for not publishing information on unoccupied commercial properties.
Reporting Tools & Tips
5 Tips on Finding Open-Source Secrets in Africa — and Worldwide
There are hundreds of stories in business registries and court documents around the world just waiting for a journalist to uncover them. Emmanuel Freudenthal shares his five tips on finding open-source secrets in Africa with GIJN — helpful guidelines which can be used around the world.
Case Studies
FOIA This! — Requests Uncover Green News
Freedom of information requests have fueled recent environmental stories around the world. GIJN’s Resource Center director, Toby McIntosh, put together a round-up of a few that might stimulate your investigative thinking.
Case Studies
How They Did It: Reuters’ Database of Taser Deaths
A team of Reuters reporters, editors and data analysts reviewed the results of hundreds of autopsies and filed hundreds of public records requests involving deaths by Taser in the US. The result? Not only did the investigation catalogue 1,005 deaths, but it ended up building the most comprehensive database ever on Taser-related deaths.
Data Journalism
FOIA This! Big Stories in Government Data
Data on government workforces might not sound that exciting — that is until you consider the trove of information it can help uncover. Here’s how journalists worldwide are using FOI requests to dig into great stories.
Resource
FOIA This! — Digging Out Government Spending
Tracking down local government expenses is a recurrent theme for many successful freedom of information requests. Some recent examples suggest that quite a variety of information is potentially available — about credit card charges, salaries, retirement parties, and even costs of leak investigations. Have a great story you developed using a FOI/RTI request? Send it to us at freeinfo@email.gwu.edu. We’re currently looking for examples regarding immigration.