The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. Add to that more than 3,000 tipsheets from our national conferences on how to cover specific beats or do specific stories and you have a resource that no reporter or editor should be without. These stories and tipsheets are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Logged-in members can view the tipsheets free online:
Search results for "Open Government Laws" ...
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The Ask: Requesting and Negotiating For Records/Data
A guide on how to procure the documents you need in order to launch your investigation. This step-by-step tipsheet takes you through each individual step to gaining access to government records.
Tags: Burlington Free Press; FOI; Open Government Laws; Freedom of Information;
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Winning Open Records Battles
Langford gives tips on how to win open records battles. She details the things you can do to be prepared when requesting records because agencies don't always make the information easy to obtain.
Tags: FOIA; open records; record requests; freedom of information; Sunshine laws; government records;
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Data Negotiation: All you've got to do is ask...
This PowerPoint walks you through the process of negotiating for data. Key to successful data requests is knowing the law. O'Neil and Dowdell provide excellent resources for FOIA information. They suggest who to speak to about documents; what to expect; what to ask for and to ask often. They also recommend always getting electronic records when available. Included are recommendations when your requests are denied.
Tags: FOIA; open records; data negotiation; government records; open records; close records; freedom of information act; sunshine laws
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Open Records: Dealing with the Newest Threat to Open Government
This PowerPoint presentation discusses the recent FOIA Reform, the Open Government Act. Smallman offers an overview of the reform and discusses how it will affect open records laws. The tipsheet offers an overview of each section of the new bill.
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Chapter 44-14 WAC Public Records Act - Model Rules
This is a guide from the office of the Attorney General of Washington about public records. It covers each part of the law, and how public officials are supposed to respond to requests.
Tags: public records; open records; freedom of information; state government
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Using the Illinois Freedom of Information Act
A successful FOIA request takes knowledge, planning, persistence and toughness. Loury offers tips about preparing the request, submitting the request, and negotiating with the agency over information. He also includes several examples of FOIA requests that he has submitted.
Tags: Freedom of Information; Sunshine Law; state government; public records; open records
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Texas Public Records
Lists various types of public records in Texas and provides on-line sources for searching them. It includes filing tips, typical excuses for secrecy and how to respond to them, as well as compliance rules for FOI requests.
Tags: freedom of information; FOI; open records; public records; Texas; state government; sunshine laws; Texas
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What Matters When Filing a Records Request Under New York's Freedom of Information Law
This tipsheet begins with some tips about how to get the most out of New York's FOIL law, and ends with an explanation of the law by Robert Freeman, the executive director of the Committee on Open Government.
Tags: public records; freedom of information; state government; watchdog organizations
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Alabama Open Records Law
This tipsheet explains Alabama's open records law in a lot of detail. It references specific parts of the code and defines them in a way that journalists could incorporate into their own open records requests. The tipsheet also lists helpful websites for writing FOIA requests.
Tags: open records; public records; Freedom of Information request; state government
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Access to Electronic Records
The Reporter's Committee for Freedom of the Press released this helpful state-by-state guide to obtaining government data in the spring of 2003. The first fourteen pages cover various changes being made on the FOIA frontier, like invasion of privacy laws and what exactly constitutes a public record. The actual guide includes the law governing FOIA in that particular state, cases and opinions that have altered it, and fees and software that might be related.
Tags: CAR; electronic records; data; databases; FOIA; Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press; open records