Biden’s legacy: Leaving FOIA in shambles
AP Illustration
The Freedom of Information Act gives the public a right to access government records.
The Freedom of Information Act is supposed to shed light on government activity by giving journalists and the public access to government records. But the law is in shambles. From endless delays in response time and unjustified refusals to ridiculously overbroad redactions, FOIA is plagued with problems.
We must fight back against the government’s refusal to comply with FOIA and urge Congress to reform the law and end backlogs of requests, reduce the number of exemptions, and overturn damaging court decisions.
Featured Items
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New lawsuit could finally bring FOIA transparency to the halls of Congress
Legislative Branch records don’t receive the kind of public scrutiny the Freedom of Information Act brings to the Executive, but that could change thanks to a novel lawsuit over video records related to the January 6 riot at the Capitol.
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Lawmakers can support journalists, but only by actually listening to them first
In the past two months, lawmakers in Florida and New Jersey have advanced misguided proposals that would effectively classify assaults on journalists as hate crimes. These proposals would do little to fix the underlying issues and would likely create a host of new problems.
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It’s time for Biden to take action on transparency and press freedom
As we come to the end of Sunshine Week — the long-running annual initiative focusing on government transparency — we're taking a look at how the first few months of the Biden administration have shaped up on that front.
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Police accountability depends on transparency. Across the state, New York cops are resisting.
The unfolding story of the Daniel Prude case has been a testament to the importance of transparency laws in police accountability. Across New York State, police departments and unions have resisted those efforts.
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Supreme Court goes live in the age of COVID, and rules on press freedom issues
The Supreme Court will take the unprecedented step of broadcasting its oral arguments for two weeks beginning today, enacting in response to the coronavirus pandemic a measure that government transparency advocates have demanded for years.
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Government transparency cannot be a coronavirus casualty
Government agencies from the local to federal level are failing to live up to their legal transparency obligations even as the stakes for access to relevant information are at an all-time high.
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New ruling gives legal boost to a key data journalism tool
A recent federal appeals court ruling may be a big win for data journalists and researchers who depend on scraping to collect information to report on.
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California’s new transparency law increases police visibility and amplifies reporting, but the state is still resisting it
Recent courtroom wins in California have led to the release of new police shooting records under a new transparency law, but some government agencies have been resisting compliance.
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Privacy researchers push back on judge’s order to destroy NYPD public records
Any time a government agency orders documents that were obtained legally to be returned or destroyed is a threat to freedom of information and constitutional rights of reporters everywhere.
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California AG refuses to rule out legal action against public records journalists, in new statements
'It's either the case that the Attorney General of California is ... suggesting he can [prosecute] just to intimidate those journalists—or that he doesn't know what California law says. I don't find either option very comforting.'
