Today is the seventh annual International Right to Know Day, and it’s a good year to celebrate. According to FOIAnet, a network of about 200 FOI organizations in 75 countries, about 90 countries have FOI laws and six countries are adopting FOI laws (Bangladesh, the Caymen Islands, Chile, the Cook Islands, Guatemala and Uruguay).

Another success this past year has been the renewed transparency brought to the U.S. government through the Obama administration. Today a variety of events are being held around the world to promote FOI (see the FOIAnet page for more).

Sometimes we forget that we aren’t the only country with FOI laws, and we weren’t even the first to pass a federal FOIA. In 1766 Sweden/Finland (combined back then) adopted the world’s first FOIA law and press freedom law – before we were even a country and 200 years before the U.S. FOIA was passed. Even Colombia had a federal FOIA by 1888.

In the spirit of International Right to Know Day, I think it’s appropriate to honor who some consider the “Father of FOI,” Anders Chydenius, the person who led the charge for the 1766 “Freedom-of-Press and the Right-of-Access to Public Records Act” in Sweden-Finland. I would say that he was one of the first to champion press freedom legislation as well. Here’s what Chydenius said in a 1775 memo on “Freedom of the Press”:

“No proof should be necessary that a modicum of freedom for writing and printing is one of the strongest pillars of support for free government, for in the absence of such, the Estates would not dispose of sufficient knowledge to make good laws, nor practitioners of law have control in their vocation, nor subjects knowledge of the requirements laid down in law, the limits of authority and their own duties. Learning and good manners would be suppressed, coarseness in thought, speech and customs would flourish, and a sinister gloom would within a few years darken our entire sky of freedom.”

To learn more about Chydenius, check out the Web site dedicated to him, as well as a nice piece on the history of international FOI laws by a journalism professor in Australia, Stephen Lamble. To learn more about FOI laws worldwide, check out freedominfo.org.

We can learn a lot from other countries’ FOI laws – some have better laws, or subparts, than U.S. FOIA. For example, South Korea’s FOIA requires agencies to respond in 10 days (not 20 like in the U.S.), and applies to all three branches of government, not just the executive branch as in the U.S.

Think of it this way: The U.S. produced a good FOIA law in 1966 – the Ford Mustang of FOIA laws. A fine machine, with some muscle for the times and strong appeal, yet one that needs a little tinkering and maintenance as it continues to age. Meanwhile, other countries, like  South Korea, have had the opportunity to build on that prior knowledge to create a new car in just the past few years, let’s say a Hyundai Elantra (which beat out the Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic in Consumer Reports’ top-ranked compact cars in 2008), with better features than the ’66 Mustang. It’s got a better sound system, better AC, better fuel mileage, etc. We’re still probably better off upgrading our Mustang rather than scrapping it and starting over (it’s not quite in the clunker category yet, thanks to several upgrades, the last one being the Open Government Act of 2007), but we still have some more work to do on it, and we can look to other models for ideas.

So happy International Right to Know Day. Celebrate by submitting a FOIA request.

FOI Committee meeting recap and 2009-10 action plan
SPJ national conference
Aug. 29, 2009

Attending
David Cuillier, Kelly Hawes, Carol Cole-Frowe, Carolyn Carlson, Frank Gibson, Charles Davis, Jodi Cleesattle, David Chartrand, Sonny Albarado, Kevin Smith

New members
Two folks have volunteered to join the crew: Carol Cole-Frowe, a freelancer from Oklahoma, and Sonny Albarado, a projects editor from Arkansas and longtime regional director (assuming Kevin Smith approves – committee members and chairs serve at the behest of the president in an advisory role). Here is the complete list of members:
1.    David Cuillier (chair), journalism professor, Arizona
2.    Joe Adams (vice chair), editorial writer, Florida
3.    Bryan Sears, political editor, Maryland
4.    David Chartrand, writer, Kansas
5.    Robert Leger, assistant editorial page editor, Arizona
6.    Jodi Cleesattle, attorney, California
7.    Carolyn Carlson, journalism professor, Georgia
8.    Charles Davis, journalism professor, Missouri
9.    Joel Campbell, journalism professor, Utah
10.    Ana-Klara Hering Anderson, attorney, Florida
11.    Donald Meyers, reporter, Utah
12.    Carol Cole-Frowe, Oklahoma freelancer
13.    Sonny Albarado, investigative reporter

Past year’s successes
•    This year we co-sponsored the Sunshine Week national project with NFOIC and ASNE. The annual campaign was a success, as usual, in fostering access.
•    The FOI Committee put together an expanded Sunshine Network, with great resources and contacts for every state. The network was supposed to be put online for Sunshine Week in March but it did not happen (following this committee meeting President-Elect Kevin Smith talked to the SPJ Webmaster, who then told David Cuillier that the pages would be online within 10 days).
•    David Cuillier reported that the committee helped in a variety of access battles, including commenting on the new FERPA rules, the shield law, federal media policies and state records issues.

New business and action plan for 2009-10
•    Fix FERPA. Several committee members suggested we focus on FERPA this year. The Student Press Law Center is working on developing amendments and SPJ can help by educating lawmakers and getting the word out. The Department of Education is looking like it doesn’t intend to change its rules so legislation might be the best route. Also, several committee members liked the idea of putting together a good guide for journalists and FERPA, explaining how crime records and directory information are public. Therefore, we have two proposed action items for the year:
o    Action: Work with SPLC to develop and pass FERPA amendments.
o    Action: Develop a guide for journalists on FERPA. Can put online. Carolyn and David Chartrand want to work on that? Others?

•    Keep Sunshine Week strong. Because ASNE laid off its employee who coordinates Sunshine Week, it’s likely that SPJ could play a more important role in helping out. Charles Davis said he is trying to find out from ASNE what they are planning and whether NFOIC and SPJ can help out. Potential action item:
o    Action: Help ASNE and NFOIC with Sunshine Week, potentially taking on more work this year. (David Cuillier can coordinate with Charles on this)

•    Shield law follow-up. Assuming the shield law is passed this fall, Carolyn Carlson suggested SPJ keeps involved in drafting the regulations enforcing the law.
o    Action: Work with Laurie Babinksi to follow the rules regarding the shield law.

•    Sunshine Network update. Each year we will have to update the Sunshine Network pages to make sure the contacts and resources are still around.
o    Action: Update the sunshine network pages Jan-Feb 2010. Each committee member will get his or her original states. Charles Davis said he might be able to get a grad student to help out as well. David Cuillier will coordinate again.

•    FOI Training. David Cuillier mentioned the pilot FOI training project planned for spring-summer 2010. SPJ will pay for him to travel the country by car for about a month, visiting as many newsrooms, universities and chapters as possible to give FOI training and spread the gospel. If successful, this model could be integrated into the newsroom training program (e.g., in future years trainers could travel different regions in one-week bursts in the summers).

•    Other initiatives. David Chartrand suggested pushing school boards to televise meetings. David Cuillier mentioned that the Criminal Justice Journalists group would like to work with SPJ and others to push for better access to federal prisons.

•    Quill columns. If you have a topic you would like to write about for a FOI Toolbox column in Quill, let me know the topic and when you would like to write it. Not as huge of a need this coming year because just six issues now. These are intended to be heavy news-you-can-use columns, loaded with tips and practical step-by-step type information. They would rather not have columns discussing an issue in broad terms, or editorializing on a subject. Could tackle a subject and then provide four or five tips for doing something. Examples of columns they’ve liked include: 11 records for great features, 10 strategies for reducing copy fees (next issue), ways to make FOI relevant to readers, how to write an effective request letter, 10 closed-meeting red flags, etc. (think lists).

Make sure to check out the new FOI FYI blog categorization, on the bottom right portion of the page. Thanks to the new format launched last week, I can categorize items by subject, and so far I’ve created subjects for:

Document story ideas
FOI strategies
Loony denials
Shield law

So far you’ll find a dozen entries in each category, and it will grow as we post more over time. If you have any suggestions or thoughts, feel free to let me know at cuillier@email.arizona.edu.

Have a problem with a federal agency in processing your FOIA request? Now there is help. Miriam Nisbet is the new federal FOIA ombudsman, a position created through the Open Government Act of 2007. It’s taken a few years, but finally the office is up and running.

Nisbet, whose official title is director of the Office of Government Information Services within The National Archives, started work Tuesday last week. She’s been running around getting her phone and e-mail set up, and hiring five staffers. She gets $1 million to run the office for this first year.

Nisbet told me last week that she hopes to have her staffers hired within a couple of months, but journalists and citizens can start calling her now if they need help. She said she can help requesters if they are having problems with agencies. She hopes to eventually have an online tracking system so requesters can see where their cases stand.  “I’m here. I’m open for business,” she said.

Nisbet is a good person for this job because she’s experienced in FOIA on both sides of the counter, as an attorney for the Department of Justice (the agencies’ side of the counter), but also as an attorney for the American Library Association (the requester’s side of the counter), and then also for the National Archives and as a long-time member of the American Society of Access Professionals (kind of standing on top of the counter, more or less). This is a positive step foward in helping requesters maneuver their way through FOIA.

Here’s her contact information as of today:

Email: ogis@nara.gov
Phone: 301-837-1996 (toll-free number on the way)
Fax: 301-713-7406
Web site: www.nara.gov/ogis (not yet active, but stay tuned)

Now is the time to contact your U.S. senator to support the federal shield law. On Thursday the Senate Judiciary Committee will consider passing S. 448, the Free Flow of Infomation Act. The bill isn’t perfect, but it would provide projection to people who commit acts of journalism from willy-nilly federal subpoenas.

Act now. It’s easy. Go to this page to find your U.S. senator and then click on an easy online form to submit your thoughts on the matter. For a list of the senators on the Judiciary Committee, with links to online contact information, see below. Also, for a great tip sheet on how to deal with a subpoena, check out this great tip sheet provided at the SPJ national conference last month.

U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee members (click on the name below to get you to each senator’s contact message form – it’s easy!):

Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), Ranking Member
Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.)
Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)
Edward Kaufman (D-Del.)
Richard Durbin (D-Ill.)
Charles Grassley (R-Iowa)
Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.)
Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.)
Al Franken (D-Minn.)
Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.)
Tom Coburn (R-Okla.)
Arlen Specter (D-Pa.)
Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.)
Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)
John Cornyn (R-Texas)
Orrin Hatch (R-Utah)
Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Chairman
Herb Kohl (D-Wis.)
Russell Feingold (D-Wis.)

Kudos to the Stars and Stripes for showing through government records that the military has been rating the tenor of reporters’ news coverage and denying access based on the journalists’ perceived negativity (see Stars and Stripes coverage).

For some time the military denied that its hired PR firm rated reporters as either negative, neutral or positive. But documents leaked to the paper showed otherwise. More so, the firm analyzed how easily manipulated reporters are, and provided suggestions for how to do so. One reporter’s coverage was deemed “subjective” and steering him toward covering “the positive work of a successful operation” could “result in favorable coverage.”

The military fired the firm, but I doubt this is the end of the practice. The newspaper has put in a formal FOIA request for all the documents, so we’ll see what else pops up. I wonder what other agencies are doing the same thing?