Global Investigative Journalism Network (https://gijn.org/tag/foia/)
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.
কোভিড-১৯ মহামারিতে সাংবাদিকদের জন্য তথ্য পাওয়ার সবচেয়ে বড় উৎস হতে পারে তথ্য অধিকার আইন। কিন্তু দেশে দেশে সরকারি কর্মকর্তারা অফিসে যাচ্ছেন না। তাই আবেদন করেও তথ্য পেতে দেরি হচ্ছে গণমাধ্যম ও নাগরিক সংগঠনগুলোর। অথচ এই সময়টিতে সরকার কী ব্যবস্থা নিচ্ছে, সেই তথ্য জানা সবচেয়ে জরুরি হয়ে উঠেছে নাগরিকদের জন্য। তাই জাতিসংঘ থেকে শুরু করে নানান প্রতিষ্ঠানের কাছ থেকে দাবি উঠেছে – স্বচ্ছতা নিশ্চিতের স্বার্থে দ্রুত তথ্য প্রদানের।
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.
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.
Getting information from official or unofficial sources lies at the heart of investigative journalism. This section of the GIJN/NAJA guide covers:
How to make official requests for information
How to work with whistleblowers
How to protect yourself
Using Access Laws to Get Information
Information laws are key prying devices in the investigative toolkit.
This guide is created to encourage Indigenous investigative journalists and to provide empowering tips and tools. Developed collaboratively by the Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN) and the Native American Journalists Association (NAJA), the guide explores eight key topics.
Public records sometimes say the darnedest things. One example: A declassified memo from 1977 shows that the NSA wondered if psychics could nuke cities so that they became lost in time and space (yes, like in the post-apocalyptic anime Akira). Other times, it’s what they don’t say — like when the FBI found it necessary to redact the name of Superman’s alter-ego, Clark Kent.
After nine years and over 60,000 requests, MuckRock — the Massachusetts-based news site that specializes in using the US Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) — has been witness to some pretty impressive efforts to keep public information from the public. In the spirit of Sunshine Week, they compiled some of the weirdest, wildest and downright hilarious redactions they’ve received since launching in 2010.
For over 50 years, the Central Intelligence Agency kept a tasty secret: a translated copy of the Soviet Army’s 1948 “Manual for the Cook-Instructor of the Ground Forces in Peacetime,” complete with borscht recipes.
More than 115 countries worldwide have laws that require officials to turn over public records. Of course, even in countries that have no laws it never hurts to ask.