RSSTaking open access on the road
May 09
Uncategorized FOI Resources, FOIA No Comments
The Society of Professional Journalists and National Freedom of Information Coalitions are hitting the trail and helping to educate journalists and citizens alike about their rights to government information. The SPJ’s Freedom of Information Committee Chairman David Cuillier is hitting dozens of states over 45 days and blogging his journey:
What he’s finding, however, is a very mixed picture, particularly in terms of police department openness:
Time after time journalists are raising this issue: They can’t get anything out of police anymore. As I do sessions I ask the old timers to describe what it was like to cover cops 20 years ago. Then I ask a new reporter to describe what it is like today. Here is how it goes:
20 years ago: Walk into the police station and go to the incident reports, kept in a basket or clipboard. Flip through all the reports for the past 24 hours, with no redactions. Everything is there – name of suspects, full address, name of victims – the works. If you had a question you asked the sarge on duty, or even called the officer who handled the call. If we heard something on the scanner we could ask about it. We got news out fast and we got it complete.
Today: You walk into a police station and talk to a PIO, who tells you what the police think is newsworthy, sanitized and little detail. No looking at incident reports. No interviewing the officer or getting information from a sarge in charge. Some agencies are encrypting their scanner channels so nobody can hear what is happening. We are at the mercy of what a PIO wants to tell us, or not tell us. Secret police.
Read on for other great tips and his thoughts on the state of FOI.
