President-elect Trump used Twitter to announce he asked the House and Senate intelligence committees to identify who provided to NBC News a memorandum outlining the intelligence community’s assessment of efforts by the Russian government to influence the presidential election. A threat of an investigation by Congress into unauthorized disclosures to the news media should…
Legislation approved on January 12 by the full House of Representatives to reauthorize the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (H.R. 238) contains an exemption to disclosure under federal FOIA for information CFTC may “asertain” regarding complicated trading structures known as commodity pools and client accounts. As introduced, the legislation required that the information be…
The incoming Trump administration has a narrower window for affecting how agencies implement their obligations under the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) than previous presidents, however each administration sets the tone for disclosure decisions in cases where agencies have discretion. With the enactment of the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016, Congress…
The American public has an inalienable right to exercise beliefs, speak freely, access a free press, assemble and petition the government. Working as the Sunshine in Government Initiative from 2005 until 2017, News Media for Open Government is a broad coalition of news media and journalism organizations working to ensure…
Attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions will likely face questions on FOIA and other topics affecting open government during two scheduled days of confirmation hearings in the Senate Judiciary Committee starting on Tuesday, January 10.
In recent years groups inside and outside of government have created new tools for FOIA administration, such as iFOIA, MuckRock, and FOIA Machine. In addition, the federal government built its own FOIAonline. Local governments, too, are getting into the game. Many years ago we extolled the virtues of agencies building…
Unnamed sources can undermine an audience’s belief that a story is true. It’s good for an audience to be skeptical. Here’s how veteran journalists use unnamed sources and ensure they are reporting factual information by relying on multiple sources to get the story right.
A panel of witnesses told the Senate Judiciary Committee that technology and better records management were keys to improving the Freedom of Information Act. SGI Director Rick Blum pointed to several stories relying in part on FOIA that helped change government action or otherwise make an impact in communities. The…
PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 30, 2016 [Link to PDF version] Media coalition celebrates President Obama signing of FOIA reforms into law as FOIA turns 50 on July 4 President Barack Obama’s signature on the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 marks a high point in the half century…