News & Analysis
Using FOIA to Track Trans Rights in Trump’s America
To track how executive orders affecting transgender people are being enforced, reporters filed hundreds of public records requests with federal, state, and local agencies.
Tag
FOIA
29 posts
News & Analysis Press Freedom
Behind the FOI Desk: Using Freedom of Information Laws to Fuel Accountability Stories in Africa
Newsrooms across Africa have established formal, right-to-information help desks that leverage government document requests for public accountability and watchdog reporting.
GIJC23 Reporting Tools & Tips
Tips for Better FOIA Requests: Taking Right-to-Information Access to the Next Level
Many reporters rely on FOIA requests and RTI legislation for their investigations. But how do you take these requests to the next level?
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. These laws offer valuable windows for reporters, even for those outside of a country’s borders. But there are almost always tricks to targeting and expediting these disclosures, and this panel brings deep experience in how to do […]
Case Studies
How Journalistic Teamwork Uncovered Years of Regulatory Failure in Texas
The authors give a behind-the-scenes look at their investigation into a massive chemical fire in Houston in March 2019.
Reporting Tools & Tips
60 GB of Data, 27 Years of Hidden Payments: How Brazil’s Journalists Used FOIA to Reveal Pension Payments
Seventy stories and still counting. This is the main result of an ongoing struggle waged since 2017 for the disclosure of all pension and retirement payments by the Brazilian government. On the front line is GIJN member Fiquem Sabendo, a journalism agency specializing in that country’s Freedom of Information Act.
News & Analysis
Tips on Making FOIA Requests About COVID-19
Despite government restrictions, journalists around the world are using freedom of information laws to understand the COVID-19 pandemic and the response of international, national, and local authorities. GIJN’s Toby McIntosh outlines how to craft an effective freedom of information request and provides tips and suggestions on where to make requests and important questions to ask.
Case Studies
Governments Delay Access to Information Due to COVID-19
Governments around the world, some which have sent workers home, are announcing interruptions in responding to freedom of information requests. Journalists are being told to expect delays in more than a dozen countries. But press freedom advocates warn that countries are taking big steps backward just when the free flow of information is most needed. GIJN’s Toby McIntosh rounds up some of the nations which have been affected.
Resource
Document of the Day: A Guide to Investigating Anti-LGBTQI+ Hate
Taboom Media has created a reporting guide for journalists interested in investigating how US-based faith groups and NGOs foment hate against LGBTQI+ communities, both in the United States and abroad.
Resource
Where Can Foreigners Make FOIA Requests? Read the New GIJN Guide
In some countries, foreigners can use the national freedom of information law to file requests, according to a new GIJN resource, GIJN’s Guide to National Rules on Where Foreigners Can Make FOI Requests. Check out the color-coded chart, which includes the pertinent language of the laws in countries around the world.