Getting and using information
FOI
Also: freedom of information
A legal right to request documents held by government, used by reporters to prise out information that is not volunteered.
Freedom of information laws let any citizen, a journalist included, ask for government records. The process is slow, often resisted, and frequently returns pages blacked out, but it has prised loose countless stories that no one would ever have handed over. It rewards patience and precise wording. Simon's factsheet walks through how to frame a request that actually works.
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