Records in Nigeria are going public.

President Goodluck Jonathan signed a freedom of information bill into law Saturday that will allow citizen access to public records for the first time.

The bill passed in the country’s National Assembly May 24 and was also approved by the Senate before the assembly voted on it.

This isn’t the first time Nigeria has passed an FOI bill, but former President Olusegun Obasanjo didn’t sign it into law in 2007.  The original version of the FOI bill was presented in 1999 soon after the country shifted from a 28-year history of sporadic military rule.

So here’s to the Nigerian government for honoring its citizens’ right to freedom of information. This is a historic moment in Nigeria as the nation marks a milestone in the fight for government transparency.

– Morgan Watkins

Morgan Watkins is SPJ’s summer Pulliam/Kilgore Freedom of Information intern and a University of Florida student. Reach her by email (mwatkins@spj.org) or connect with her on Twitter (@morganwatkins26).

PBS website hacked over Frontline episode

For a brief time on May 30, Tupac Shakur lived.

Well, a story posted on the Public Broadcasting System website early Monday morning claimed he was still alive.

The false story, which explained that the famous rapper hadn’t actually died in 1996 and was living in New Zealand, was one of the pranks pulled on the news organization by a group of hackers.

Lulzsec, an anonymous hacking group, claimed responsibility for the Memorial Day weekend hacking spree. The cyber assault on the website was triggered by the hackers’ disappointment in PBS Frontline’s May 24 “WikiSecrets” episode about whistleblower Bradley Manning that broadcast last week.

The Lulzsec Twitter account includes a May 31 tweet to the WikiLeaks account that says, “@WikiLeaks We hope our hacking gave Bradley Manning a smile. That man deserves something nice.”

In addition to the fake story on Shakur, e-mail addresses and passwords for PBS affiliates, bloggers and third-party media outlets and reporters who signed up for access to PBS clips and photos were also released by the hackers.

They also added a calling card on the website at pbs.org/lulz/ that read “All your base are belong to Lulzsec.”

PBS Frontline released a statement in which the show’s executive producer, David Fanning, called the cyber attack “irresponsible and chilling” and said it was “an attempt to chill independent journalism.”

Australian Broadcasting Corp. FOI controversy

The Australian Broadcasting Corp. (ABC) has refused to release information on its audience data and employee salaries to The Weekend Australian and the Herald Sun, two Australian newspapers.

The ABC is using a programming exemption for FOI that covers documents with “a direct or indirect relationship to program material,” according to an article in the Weekend Australian.

The Herald Sun’s request for information on the ABC’s salaries for its TV and radio personalities was also met with a tight-lipped response by the media corporation.

The controversy stems in part from the fact that the ABC is withholding information despite the fact that it is a taxpayer-funded company.

– Morgan Watkins

Morgan Watkins is SPJ’s summer Pulliam/Kilgore Freedom of Information intern and a University of Florida student. Reach her by email (mwatkins@spj.org) or connect with her on Twitter (@morganwatkins26).

Michael Morisy, co-founder of MuckRock.com, has filed hundreds of public records requests on behalf of citizens and journalists in this past year.  Check out the site and what they’ve accomplished!

You can look at the records they’ve requested, the actual request letters, and stories produced from the documents. You’ll get great ideas to enhance your own reporting.

And then make sure to make it to the national SPJ conference in September, where Morisy is planning to participate on an access panel (“Records of Disaster”), with Pulitzer-prize winning environment reporter Mark Schleifstein from the New Orleans Times-Picayune. It ought to be a great talk!

In D.C., lawmakers fight back against draft exec order

Bills in the House and Senate could preempt a draft executive order by President Obama that would force federal contractors to disclose their political contributions.

The legislation would prohibit the federal government from both collecting and using data about federal contractors’ political expenditures. The House also passed an amendment May 25 to the 2012 defense bill to ban federal departments from collecting such information.

Obama’s draft executive order has received support from open government groups, but has also faced opposition from businesses and members of Congress from both parties.

Calif. universities embrace transparency (with a few caveats)

California State University and the University of California have agreed to withdraw their opposition to public disclosure of campus foundation finances through a compromise with state Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) and various public records supporters.

While state university officials didn’t want to reveal how campus foundations manage almost $2 billion, the compromise allows them to protect the identities of most donors.

The call for disclosure by campus foundations gained media attention in 2010 when CSU Stanislaus hired former Alaska governor and former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin to deliver a speech at a fundraiser but wouldn’t disclose the amount she received until a judge ordered the contract be made public.

CSU and UC will not oppose Senate Bill 8, which was introduced by Yee and would make campus foundations and other operations, such as campus bookstores, to function under the California Public Records Act.

– Morgan Watkins

Morgan Watkins is SPJ’s summer Pulliam/Kilgore Freedom of Information intern and a University of Florida student. Reach her by email (mwatkins@spj.org) or connect with her on Twitter (@morganwatkins26).

SPJ’s chapter in Chicago, the Headline Club, conducted a survey in early 2011 that shows it can be tough for journalists in the Chicago area to get the public records access they need.

Funded with a $40,000 grant from the McCormick Foundation, the information access study asked local reporters about information request response times. The chapter announced the results Wednesday. The University of Illinois Survey Research Laboratory conducted the Web-based survey in February and March 2011.

According to the study, 51.6 percent of information requests to the federal government took more than 20 days for a response.

The study also found that 66.3 percent of requests to the State of Illinois, 72.5 percent of requests in Cook County, and 66.7 percent of requests for the City of Chicago took more than five days for a response.

The 61-page report is available on the Chicago Headline Club’s website.

– Morgan Watkins

Morgan Watkins is SPJ’s summer Pulliam/Kilgore Freedom of Information intern and a University of Florida student. Reach her by email (mwatkins@spj.org) or connect with her on Twitter (@morganwatkins26).

Our pre-Memorial Day award for FOI Fail of the Week goes to the British court system’s injunction practices, which have been rocked this week by the revealing tweets of citizens.

Ryan Giggs, a soccer star, got a court injunction preventing media outlets from publishing the allegations he faces of having an affair with a reality television contestant.

His injunction is known as an “anonymized injunction,” where news outlets can publish information about him as long as his name is withheld.

The gag order didn’t keep Giggs’ identity a secret, however, as people posted his name and joked about his supposed indiscretions on Twitter.

The case has centered attention on “super-injunctions,” used in Britain to forbid journalists from both writing about something and also from writing about their inability to write in the first place. (Go back and read that again if you need.)

When Giggs’ attorneys insisted Twitter reveal the people behind the Internet campaign against the star, users spread the news even further.

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt promised he would form a committee to review the rules for gagging orders and to assess potential alterations.

As for the odds of the Twitter users facing legal attacks for ignoring the injunction – well, they’re pretty slim.

With 75,000 people naming Giggs, British lawmaker John Hemming told Parliament that “it is obviously impracticable to imprison them all,” according to an Associated Press story.

– Morgan Watkins

Morgan Watkins is SPJ’s summer Pulliam/Kilgore Freedom of Information intern and a University of Florida student. Reach her by email (mwatkins@spj.org) or connect with her on Twitter (@morganwatkins26).

SEC rewards

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved rules May 25 that could encourage whistleblowers to warn the agency of potential securities violations with an effective new motivator: money.

Under the new rules, whistleblowers may reap the benefits of helping the SEC ferret out fraud and other problems. If their information helps the SEC collect money via subsequent enforcement methods, whistleblowers could receive between 10 percent and 30 percent of the funds.

The SEC approved the rewards program despite fierce opposition from corporations that lobbied for constraints, not incentives, for whistleblowers.

SEC commissioners rejected calls by businesses to require whistleblowers to notify companies they plan to accuse so they can address the issues.

U-Va.’s Climategate

The University of Virginia has agreed, along with a conservative advocacy group, to turn over requested documents related to global warming researcher and former university professor Michael Mann by Aug. 22.

The American Tradition Institute’s Environmental Law Center and state legislator  Bob Marshall (R-Prince William) requested about 9,000 pages of records, according to the university. About 20 percent of the requested records have already been released.

This isn’t the only records request centered on Mann’s research. Virginia’s Attorney General, Ken Cuccinelli, asked for similar information. Both Cuccinelli and ATI said they want the documents to see if scientists attempted to skew data to show the earth had experienced a recent and quick warming.

Mann believes his research has been targeted by organizations that disagree with his conclusions, according to a post on the Washington Post blog “Virginia Politics.”

U-Va. is fighting Cuccinelli’s subpoena in the courtroom, and the case will be heard by the Supreme Court of Virginia.

– Morgan Watkins

Morgan Watkins is SPJ’s summer Pulliam/Kilgore Freedom of Information intern and a University of Florida student. Reach her by email (mwatkins@spj.org) or connect with her on Twitter (@morganwatkins26).

NY TIMES REPORTER SUBPOENAED

A New York Times reporter and Pulitzer Prize-winner, James Risen, was subpoenaed by the U.S. Department of Justice for the trial of a suspected government whistleblower.

The accused leaker, Jeffrey Sterling, was indicted in December 2010 by a federal grand jury in Virginia. He is on trial for allegedly providing national defense information to Risen that appeared in a 2006 book called “State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration.”

No federal law exists that exempts journalists from testifying. Risen’s lawyer told The Associated Press he would attempt to have a judge override the subpoena.

The Society of Professional Journalists has, with other journalism groups and news outlets, pushed for a federal shield law in recent years. The proposed Free Flow of Information Act would protect journalists like Risen from turning over confidential sources and notes in federal cases, though there would be certain national security exceptions.

WISCONSIN

In Wisconsin, Media Trackers investigated voting practices during the April 5 election using open records requests.

From a small sample of registrations in 15 wards, Media Trackers found evidence of incomplete voter registrations and possible voter registration abuses.

Providing proof of residence for voters was a major problem uncovered by the records request. In one instance, a voter provided an acceptance letter from the University of Minnesota as a proof of residence, which wouldn’t be deemed acceptable under the guidelines by the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board.

– Morgan Watkins

Morgan Watkins is SPJ’s summer Pulliam/Kilgore Freedom of Information intern and a University of Florida student. Reach her by email (mwatkins@spj.org) or connect with her on Twitter (@morganwatkins26).

This is the first of our weekly tips for all things FOI. These posts can help reporters and other citizens in their quest for information, whether they are pursuing records at the local, state or federal level.

FOIA fees can be tricky, especially when dealing with the federal government. It’s not just those searching for records who get confused, but also the officials expected to fill their requests.

The U.S. Department of Justice Office of Information Policy (OIP) held a summit May 17 to clear up some of the biggest fee-related issues for federal employees.

While there are plenty of twists and turns that citizens may encounter when requesting access to public records, fees are one of the most important concerns because they can be taxing on requesters’ wallets as well as their patience.

The Office of Government Information Services provides a simple but handy chart that explains key differences between fee and requester categories for FOIA.

It should be of help in assessing the basic fee requirements you may face when requesting records from the federal government.

– Morgan Watkins

Morgan Watkins is SPJ’s summer Pulliam/Kilgore Freedom of Information intern and a University of Florida student. Reach her by email (mwatkins@spj.org) or connect with her on Twitter (@morganwatkins26).

The U.S. Department of Labor got slapped with a FOIA lawsuit over documents related to, of all possible things, an iPhone application.

DOL used taxpayer funds to develop an app called DOL-Timesheet that helps employees keep track of their hours worked so they aren’t underpaid.

But the app is faulty. Workers can lose up to 65 hours of work time each year using it.

Americans for Limited Government filed a lawsuit for information on costs and for the app – information the DOL has yet to disclose.

Connecticut is facing its own freedom of information dilemma. Gov. Dannel Malloy wants to create an all-encompassing watchdog agency that would consolidate the state’s Freedom of Information Commission and oversight departments such as the Judicial Review Council.

The new Office of Governmental Accountability would be an umbrella for all watchdog actions, but an editorial in the Hartford Courant argues that this could compromise ethical responsibilities of the Commission.

While agencies could share office space, their staffs should remain independent, according to the editorial. The Commission should especially be kept out of the merger because it keeps all government agencies in check – even other watchdog departments.

– Morgan Watkins

Morgan Watkins is SPJ’s summer Pulliam/Kilgore Freedom of Information intern and a University of Florida student. Reach her by email (mwatkins@spj.org) or connect with her on Twitter (@morganwatkins26).