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Posts Tagged ‘public records’
Strategies for getting the data and documents you need
By Quint Forgey In our seemingly endless quest to obtain government documents, it’s important to recognize and alleviate the often tense relationships between reporters and public information officers. During Friday’s panel discussion, “They’ve got it, you want it: Getting data and docs,” Rich Orman, senior deputy district attorney of Colorado’s 18th Judicial District, said bureaucrats…
Read MoreIRE Radio Podcast | ICE’s Secret List
What happens to immigrants convicted of sex crimes? The answer, Maria Sacchetti found out, is often unsettling. Her investigation for the Boston Globe revealed that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was quietly releasing violent offenders back into the U.S. when their home countries wouldn’t take them. On this episode, Sacchetti talks about the reporting process…
Read MoreBeyond narco tunnels and border security: Tips and techniques for investigating stories along the U.S.–Mexico border
**This article appeared in the 2015 1st Quarter IRE Journal** By Celeste González de Bustamante, Border Journalism Network Geopolitical borders and the communities that thrive among them are unique places where cultures can be both connected and contested at the same time. Borderlanders, those who live on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border region, share…
Read MoreForeign FOI: How to request records in another country
**This article appeared in the 2015 1st Quarter IRE Journal** By Emilia Díaz-Struck, Central University of Venezuela The lack of information in one country does not mean that the information does not exist. Many times, stories connect with different parts of the world, and searching in other countries could improve the findings. Persons and companies…
Read MoreA special Sunshine Week videos series on the NSA files
This week is Sunshine Week, the annual celebration of open government and access to public information. To honor the occasion, we’re unveiling a special video series on the NSA files. We talked with James Ball, special projects editor at the Guardian, about reporting one of the most high-stakes stories in the last decade. He discusses…
Read MoreLack of protocol revealed in Oklahoma execution
Following the April 29th execution of Clayton Lockett, the Tulsa World, along with legal representation from The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, filed a lawsuit against the state of Oklahoma. On Friday, more than 5,000 pages of interview transcripts and other records were released. The transcripts include about 100 interviews the Department of…
Read MoreTips for keeping an eye on public spending
By Kasia Kovacs TIPSHEET View presentations from Joanna Lin and Cezary Podkul. Journalists didn’t have to look far to prove that Illinois Congressman Aaron Schock was using taxpayer money to pay for surfing in Waikiki, parasailing in Argentina and renovating his office with Downtown Abbey flair. All the reporters had to do? Check Schock’s Instagram account. …
Read MoreBehind the Story: How NPR and ProPublica exposed problems with the Red Cross’ response to Superstorm Sandy
Justin Elliott of ProPublica Justin Elliott, Jesse Eisinger and Laura Sullivan turned a vague tip about the American Red Cross’ inefficiency into a powerful report about the organization’s failings after Hurricane Isaac and Superstorm Sandy. The joint project between ProPublica and NPR revealed that hundreds of millions of dollars pouring in from donors in 2012…
Read MoreUniversity of Oklahoma releases parking tickets after student newspaper joins suit
A decision by the student newspaper at the University of Oklahoma to join its staffer’s lawsuit against the school caused officials to reverse course on their original decision to withhold parking ticket citations. OU Daily staff member Joey Stipek had filed the suit in May 2013 after his open records requests for parking tickets was…
Read MoreNew York newspaper asks judge to force release of license plate data
The Democrat & Chronicle is fighting a county’s denial to provide license plate information about seven newspaper employees and a couple government-owned vehicles, the paper reports. The Rochester, New York-based paper has reported that Monroe County is indiscriminately amassing license-plate information from high-speed cameras. During the summer, a reporter filed a Freedom of Information Law…
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