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Making use of the U.S. Freedom of Information Act The Approach Planning, requesting and negotiating Overcoming common denials Tracking your newsrooms FOI requests Documents and Databases Health Environment Weapons Reports Investigations E-mail Contracts FOIA limitations Security and privacy exemptions Does not apply to Congress Does not apply to courts 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 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 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? 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 Overcoming denials Check the Web or just ask 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 Get help from U.S. colleague Court as a last resort 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 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