In September, the American Society of Newspaper Editors marked the 30th anniversary of passage of the federal FOIA by bringing the Freedom Forum in Washington representatives from the nation's major journalism organizations, including IRE. It wasn't a celebration.
The point of the two-day session was that a whole lot more of us need to be doing more to see that anti-secrecy laws get used effectively and are expanded.
Seven groups brainstormed solutions for the biggest barriers now keeping the FOIA from fully opening up government to public scrutiny. They have agreed to continue working as an informal consortium to make those solutions happen.
Here are highlights of the two days' work:
Improving FOIA
The problem: FOIA requests can take years because of staffing shortages in some federal agencies, bureaucratic resistance, prohibitive fees and the government's eagerness to exempt large amounts of information.
Some solutions: The recent passage of the Electronic FOIA is the first step toward strengthening the act. Penalties for the lack of compliance and hiding and withholding records would help. Journalists also should support laws that would make government records held by private firms subject to all FOIA rules.
Expanding access
The problem: FOIA does not apply to Congress, the federal judiciary branch or to certain offices connected with the presidency, including the Council of Economic Advisers and the National Security Council. Moreover, Congress seems willing to consider changes to the FOIA only about once a decade.
Some solutions: Journalists should forget about expanding FOIA to Congress. Access to the administrative offices of the judiciary and to the presidential agencies would be more fruitful. Journalists need to reactivate old networks in which they watched over the disparate pieces of legislation that together make up federal information policy. The Presidential Records Act, for example should be reviewed with an eye toward pressing for more openness. Journalists should take advantage of Vice President Al Gore's interest in information exchange over the Internet.
Using FOIA more
The problem: It takes too long for FOIA requests to be processed. Journalists don't know how to file requests. Publishers and journalism educators are uninterested in supporting or promoting FOIA.
Some solutions: FOIA response time can be improved by promoting dialogue with public affairs officers before requests are filed, by working with public interest groups on requests and by urging more funding for FOIA offices. We should increase newsroom training on the FOIA and enlist publishers, editors and legal departments in a battle for better use of a law important to democracy.
Supporting access.
The problem: The public sees the media as arrogant about their right to see all records, and there is a public indifference to FOI issues.
Some solutions: Emphasize the value to citizens of freely available information. We need to work with citizens groups and teach the public how to use FOIA and other records laws. We could list cyberspace sources of information and show the public its stakes in openness.
Balancing security concerns
The problem: National security exemptions to the FOIA are overused, and there is still far too much classification of records.
Some solutions: Reporters need to educate themselves about FOIA issues and recent presidential decisions on secrecy and classification then demand compliance.
Technology
The problem: Agencies resist compliance to requests for electronic records.
Some solutions: Journalists need to be vigilant that government data enters the public domain. Contractors should not be permitted to obtain copyrights or other property rights in public information. Agencies should be prevented from charging high prices for data and encouraged to redefine their mission to include dissemination of information to the public.
Rosemary Armao can be reached at (573) 882-1982, or send e-mail to armao@ire.org