By Mike Hiestand
What if I were to give you a magic key that could legally open thousands of otherwise locked government file cabinets, revealing hundreds of thousands of official documents and records that would otherwise go unseen? Well, the key is already yours. Unfortunately, many student journalists don’t know about it. Even more unfortunate is that most don’t use it.
There are actually two primary keys. The first is the federal Freedom of Information Act. The second is your state’s open records law. On the whole, these laws are fairly easy to understand and even easier to use. Essentially both laws require that government officials allow the public to inspect (and generally copy) the records and documents that government workers compile or receive while on the job. Such records can take many forms: paper, film, e-mail, computer databases, etc. The federal law is used to request records from federal agencies; your state law gives you access to state agency records. While the laws contain specific categories of records that are exempt from disclosure (for example, records whose release would jeopardize national security or interfere with an ongoing criminal investigation), the initial presumption is that all public records are open to the public. In other words, you don’t have to prove to a government official that you have a legal right to a particular record he keeps, rather he must find and show you a provision in the law that allows him to keep the record secret.
Using either law is as simple as writing a letter that reasonably describes the records or information you seek and cites the open records law. To make things even easier, we have posted an automated request letter generator to our website at: http://www.splc.org/ltr_sample.html. All you need to know ahead of time is the name and address of the government agent you believe holds the record you are seeking. The letter generator will provide the specific legal citations and provisions for your state. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press maintains a similar letter generator for federal requests at: http://www.rcfp.org/foi_lett.html. Once you have submitted the letter, the recordkeeper has two choices: (1) release the records you’ve asked for or (2) provide you with legal justification (generally in writing) as to why he or she believes the records are exempt from disclosure. If you feel you have been wrongfully denied access, you may appeal the decision. In many cases, government officials who willfully violate the law can be forced to pay a fine and your attorney’s fees.
If you want to get an idea ahead of time about what sort of information is and is not available under your state law, check out the excellent guide, Tapping Officials’ Secrets, published by the Reporters Committee and available for free on their website at: http://www.rcfp.org/tapping/index.cgi.
As a journalist, you have an obligation to inform your readers about the inner-workings of their government. You have the key. So use it.