By Toby McIntosh
Reporters around the world are actively using access to information laws to fuel important stories.
Success stories pop up all the time. Eye on Global Transparency has collected just some examples of how reporters rely on requests to pry loose information.
Their use of official records is revealed through descriptive lines such as:
- “Digging further using Freedom of Information (FOI) requests revealed … “
- “Allow me to start with an anecdote detailing my experience with India’s transparency law…”
- “The agreement was obtained from the school district through an Arkansas Freedom of Information Act request.”
- “… a series of FOI requests and research by The Shift … “
For sure, frustration is also much in evidence as requests get delayed and rejected. But helpfully, journalists sometimes use these adverse experiences to expose weaknesses in the laws and in how they followed.
This article is only about positive results. So settle in for some uplifting international transparency tourism.
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A Visit to Ghana for IDUAI Day
First, a stop in Ghana for Sept.28, where UNESCO sponsored an International Day of Universal Access to Information (IDUAI) program (see videos of the sessions).
Ghanaian officials lauded the RTI law passed in 2019, effective 2022, and said they have plans for online records management system and an online RTI application process. Interestingly, that same week, a Ghana parliamentarian turned to the RTI Act to request a contract between the government and a telecom company.
The occasion of IDUAI, started as Right to Know Day 22 years ago, usually brings out messages extolling the value of transparency. The Federation of African Journalists urged all African governments “to commit to reforming their access to information laws to align with the modern law on access to information and the broader global human rights framework.”
Sept. 28 is also a time when critiques of national access laws are issued.
The International Federation of Journalists acknowledged the day with a statement that recapped its warning about a bill offered in Somalia it says poses severe threats to freedom of information. The IFJ also criticized the government of Argentina for a restrictive decree. The Federation of African Journalists urged all African governments “to commit to reforming their access to information laws to align with the modern law on access to information and the broader global human rights framework.”
EYE noticed critical reports on the state of access to information in Turkey, West Africa, Tamil Nadu (Indian state), Balochistan (Pakistan’s largest province), Victoria (Australia), Bangladesh (also read) and Mexico. Even a sharp letter to the editor about the Guyana law. An information vacuum in Iran was described by Majid Mohammadi, an Iranian-American sociologist and political analyst.
There are fewer active efforts to pass new laws these days as EYE recently documented (More Than 55 Countries Lack ATI Laws: Why Not? And What’s Being Done).
But here’s a small sampling of news about ongoing advocacy. The Iraqi Tower of Babel Organization submitted a letter with 1,000 signatures from journalists and lawyers urging four parliamentary committees to amend the draft of the Right to Access Information Law. In Senegal, independent journalist Zaynab Sangaré wrote a letter calling on civil society actors to unite their efforts to demand more transparency. CSOs in The Maldives call for consultations,
A Brief Stopover in Kerala
It’s not too often that officials encourage the media to file more requests, but that was the recent message from State Information Commissioner A. Abdul Hakeem of the Kerala state in India, as reported by The Hindu. He said:
“Information received through RTI is authentic, unlike information solicited through other means, which often presents the version of the party sharing that information. The media in Kerala has yet to utilise the scope of the RTI Act.”
Fortunately, there are signs that the media has used the law in Kerala.
About the same time as Hakeem’s speech, Mathrubhumi News in Kerala obtained documents through the RTI Act “that raise questions about the government’s reason for not acting on the Hema Committee report.” The Hema Committee studied the problems faced by women in the film industry. And another story showed that 5,338 girls had been reported missing in past five years in Kerala, based on documents obtained though an RTI inquiry, as reported by Organizer.
A Side Trip to Bulgaria for Awards
Just as EYE was putting this list together came news from Bulgaria, where the Access to Information Programme presented its annual Freedom of Information Awards.
There are six categories, including “Best journalist campaign/article related to the right to information.” AIP stages a celebratory awards ceremony, that I was once privileged to attend. (See video, but best if you speak Bulgarian.)
The “Golden Key” award for journalism went to Valya Ahchieva, “for the unsettling investigation (“About Danaya, the lie and the hospital“; “Tangled in the lies about Danaya“), which, with the help of an information request under the APIA, revealed the flaws of the Bulgarian health system through the lens of the tragic story of the 15-year-old Danaya who lost her life in the Pirogov Hospital in May 2023.”
There aren’t many contests that specifically reward journalists’ use of access laws, although many winning entries in journalism contests relied on obtained documents.
In Europe, the first-ever Access Info Impact Award was awarded Sept. 28 to Lighthouse Reports, a collaborative journalism newsroom, for its ‘Suspicion Machines’ investigation, which uncovered discriminatory algorithmic practices across Europe. The Access Info award honors the achievements of founder Helen Darbishire.
In the United States, a national award for journalists using FOIA is the Brechner Freedom of Information Award administered by the Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Project at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications.
The 2024 winner was “Shakedown City,” an investigation by the Miami Herald into government corruption in Miami that spawned a series of investigations. “The journalists submitted more than 150 public records requests and battled almost daily with city attorneys when the requests were ignored,” according to the announcement. (Mini-disclosure, this author won the Brechner award back in 1990.)
Pretty sure there are other such awards out there, but there’s no comprehensive list.
However, here are a few recent examples from US states. In Kentucky, WPSD Local 6 was honored by the Associated Press and the Kentucky Broadcasters Association with the annual Freedom of Information Award. In Texas, The Texas Tribune and the Fort Bend Herald received the Nancy Monson Spirit of FOI Award from the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas.
A Brief Detour: EYE’s ‘Methodology’
EYE bestows no awards, Eye on Global Transparency (EYE) has chronicled some stories demonstrating the media’s use of access laws from 2024. (EYE did the same last year. (The 2023 version.)
This isn’t a scientific sampling. It’s based on multiple daily Google searches (not always read). There’s an unfortunate English language bias. Not included, on purpose, are examples of how access laws by NGOs, academics, businesses and others. This is just about journalists.
EYE accumulated a portfolio of more than 100 stories – certainly an undercount. Apologies to worthy stories that have been escaped EYE’s attention.
One more side excursion. EYE’s own requests have been to international agencies: to the European Investment Bank (two appeals long pending), the UN Environment Programme (some success), and the World Bank (let’s just call it a request in progress).
EYE would love to hear from others making requests to international organizations.
Let’s resume our trip.
Traveling in the British Isles
“I consider myself fortunate that my career in journalism has dovetailed with the emergence of Freedom of Information (FOI) legislation,” wrote Scotsman reporter Martyn McLaughlin in an article titled, How I investigated the money flowing into Donald Trump’s Scottish businesses – and it took 38 months. The journey also involved a sometimes tortious experience of using of the US FOIA.
Was it worth it? Absolutely. I was rewarded with a spate of documents showing that Mr Trump’s Turnberry resort had received around £25,000 from the Secret Service to cover various business trips to the South Ayrshire property by his son, Eric. The resultant story offered irrefutable proof of how public funds from the US were going to the private Trump businesses in Scotland. McLaughlin wrote:
The ability to obtain records, data and correspondence from public bodies is a vital part of my day-to-day toolkit, and at a time when obfuscation and opacity are rampant, it helps shed much-needed light on crucial issues.
Some other examples:
- The UK-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism found that the federal revenue agency “has not charged a single company under landmark legislation passed six years ago to crack down on corporate tax evasion,” a conclusion based on FOI requests by BIJ and TaxWatch.
- The Telegraph used the UK FOIA to learn that the national broadcaster BBC had identified multiple cases of “serious editorial malpractice” following the introduction of a new internal whistleblowing policy.
- Light was shed on the UK government’s spending on climate aid by Carbon Brief, which sent FOI requests to three departments.
- Hundreds of e-scooter and e-bike injuries reported, the Gazette Standard reported, all based on a FOI request of Essex Country records.
Heading to the United States
Some FOIA requests have long lives because the material released is put into databases. This is shown in several instances in the US.
The Tallahassee Democrat, reporting on the biggest gun stories in Florida relied on a breakthrough 2003 FOIA request by USA TODAY that surfaced data from a federal program called Demand 2, a report of firearms transactions.
NBC News built a five-year database of shootings involving the officials of the FBI and other federal bodies, by reviewing thousands of public documents, news reports, press releases and lawsuits. Documents obtained by records request have been uploaded into a public archive.
A Short Sad Detour
EYE was saddened by the recent death of investigative journalism David Burnham, whose many accomplishments included helping to start an organization that relies on FOIA requests to create some amazing and widely databases, TRAC. One of the databases, The FOIA Project, follows US FOI litigation.
Back to US Examples
Here’s a further smattering on articles based on US requests. (FYI: one source of US FOIA news, with many examples, is the Brechner Center month report.)
- E-mails pursued by The New York Times showed that a Labor Department was in regular communication with private sector users of government data.
- Internal emails and documents obtained by National Public Radio in the US through a FOIA request showed “how immigration authorities scrambled from the first days of the Trump administration to scale up their detention capacity in response to requests from the White House.” The comprehensive story also said the materials revealed “how bureaucratic hurdles slowed the process, limiting the administration’s ability to ramp up immigration enforcement to match the administration’s rhetoric.”
- Al Jazeera used the FOIA to uncover that Boeing has been the subject of 32 whistleblower complaints with the workplace safety regulator in the United States during the past three years.
- US government documents obtained by ProPublica showed “a stark rift between trade and health officials over international efforts to regulate toddler milk.”
- The non-profit Lighthouse Reports, in collaboration with eight other newsrooms,
- published an investigationinto a US-based PR firm that built profiles on hundreds of scientists, campaigners and writers as part of its efforts to counter global resistance to pesticides. The use of FOI requests was key to finding e-mails between the company and government officials.
- It took a FOIA request by CNBC to the U.S. National Labor Relations Board to unloosed a complaint against SpaceX, alleging that the Elon Musk’s company has illegally fired eight employees after they wrote an open letter critical of Musk.
Also recently in the US, ProPublica reported that the conservative Heritage Foundation has sent in thousands of FOI requests seeking “a wide range of information on government employees, including communications that could be seen as a political liability by conservatives.”
Hopping to Different US States
State FOI laws also are effectively used by journalists.
Relying on the New York state FOI law, the Guardian reported, “One of the United States’ largest online gambling operators tried to water down rules designed to help problem gamblers and protect young and vulnerable people, according to documents seen by the Guardian.”
Secret meetings in Illinois between officials of a chemicals company Koppers and local officials came to light in Muckrock only because of repeated Illinois Freedom of Information Act requests.
Public flight records obtained under the FOIA, enabled West Virginia Watch to prove that West Virginia University paid more than $230,000 for employee Jeff Coben to fly on a private plane to Charleston and work for the governor’s administration.
In Arkansas, the White County Citizen used the state FOIA to learn he details of the separation agreement for a former school superintendent, including a gag order.
A Markup investigation into that Amazon Ring’s social platform, Neighbors, resulted in a spin-off report, How to Run a Public Records Audit with a Team of Students. “The basics of auditing is simple: Send the same FOI request to different government agencies, document how you followed up, and document the outcome.”
The Lens in New Orleans successfully requested emails that showed how an industry-sponsored group recruited a University of Louisiana official to testify in support of its position concerning an environmental rule.
A Trip to India
The Indian media used the Right to Information Act this year to report on topics ranging from algorithms to spices.
According to data obtained by Reuters via the RTI Act, tests conducted by Indian authorities showed that nearly 12% of tested spice samples failed to meet quality and safety standards.
Journalists working for the Pulitzer Center investigated opaque welfare algorithms in India that wrongfully cut off benefits to thousands of its poorest citizens. In addition, they published tips and insights into what it takes to access public records in India, which can be read here.
Also in India, it took an RTI request by PTI to expose the failure rate of students on an annual examination.
The Pioneer reported, Mumbai-based journalist-peace activist Jatin Desai, used the Right to Information Act to find that as many as 26 Indian fishermen died in Pakistan’s jails India during the last ten years.
A Trip to Canada
A letter to Canadian officials by a lobby group representing Canada’s biggest oil and gas producers seeking to fast-track a major industrial project was not disclosed by the government until it was compelled to do so through access to information requests made by The Narwhal.
In Canada, CBC News used FOI to obtain internal transit department emails and inspection reports that showed severe problems with the ceiling of a railroad tunnel.
A Trip to Japan
In Japan, Keiichi Ozawa, from Chunichi Shimbun, discussed his deep-dive investigation, which found that the earthquake prediction estimate for one of the Nankai Trough fault lines was based on faulty, old methods, as described in an article published by the Global Investigative Journalism Network. (Transparency note, I work part-time for GIJN.) Ozawa used RTI to get documents related to the meetings of the government’s earthquake committee, as well as many “shoe leather” reporting techniques.
South to South Africa
My notes show some negative news from South Africa, and some successes.
One major media effort to use the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) didn’t fare too well. The South African Revenue Service refused to reveal former president Jacob Zuma’s tax records, despite a Constitutional Court ruling that blanket tax secrecy is unconstitutional. The requests were made by amaBhungane the Centre for Investigative Journalism and the Financial Mail, back in February 2019.
But in April a major article on corporate climate lobbying on national climate change policy was published by Just Share and amaBhungane. The researchers submitted a series of requests asking government and industry stakeholders for details of any closed-door meetings between corporates or their representatives, and policymakers, relating to climate and energy policy.
“The outcomes of our PAIA requests reveal not only that this lobbying is taking place, but also that there appears to be no attempt to record or preserve the nature or outcomes of these discussions,” the article said. “At best this is evidence of worrying levels of disorganisation. At worst, it represents a disturbing resistance to accountability and transparency on an issue of crucial public importance.”
GroundUp requesting details of all grant payments between 2014 and 2024, then detailed the results. “You’d think it would be easy to find out who is being funded, since this is public money,” wrote GroundUp, a news agency. “But though official policy is strong on transparency and accountability, in fact it is often very hard to get information, as GroundUp found.”
Time Travel
One of the more ambitious request-driven projects, by The Washington Post, resulted from obtaining 1,941 emails that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) wrote and received over six months in 2001 while he was associate deputy attorney general at the Department of Justice. “Cruz’s emails offer a real-time, unvarnished view into his professional life as his political star rose,” the article said.
In another story looking backward, The Washington Post used records to describe how retired Marine Gen. Jim Mattis consulted with the de facto ruler of the United Arab Emirates about the war in Yemen. In keeping with federal law, Mattis applied in June 2015 for permission to be a UAE consultant, according to documents the Post had to file a lawsuit to get.
A Trip to Court
Gaining access sometimes requires legal action, with mixed results.
In Malta, The Shift continues an uphill struggle to obtain government information, usually eventually winning after initial denials and law suits by the government. Overcoming the resistance is expensive. Reporting in January, the Shift said it has won 40 cases at the Information Tribunal and 18 cases in court, but that ministries and government agencies are still refusing to provide the information.
Atlatszo, in Hungary, reported on its 2023 effort to access information noting, “Despite the law, the authorities either do not respond to the FOI requests, or send the information in a not user-friendly form.” Nevertheless, the summation describes some victories.
On a more positive note, in Nigeria, a Federal High Court in Lagos ordered the Yaba College of Technology to pay the publisher of BONews about $190 in damages for the flagrant and unlawful violation of her right to information. The court also directed the institution to make the information available.
In the United Kingdom, “Newsquest’s London investigations reporter Charles Thomson led the publisher’s pursuit of Havering Council’s 400-page dossier of detailed racism and sexism allegations,” reported Hold the Front Page.
It took an appeal for BBC to learn how much money had been spent defending Guernsey Police officers in court.
And finally, on the happier front, a FOIA case in the US earlier this year played a key role in a grant of asylum to Mexican journalist Emilio Gutiérrez Soto.
