Transcript Fact-Up: Fact-Checking & FOIA Requests Presented at NCOR

Fact-Up: Fact-Checking & FOIA Requests
Presented at NCOR 2006
by Radical Reference librarians
Jenna Freedman and Dena Marger
why fact check?
Someone other than the reporter filing the story should verify all factual
material prior to publication so that:
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The work can’t be dismissed as propaganda or rumor
Legal risks associated with printing inaccuracies can be avoided
An even more interesting story might be discovered
Sources are kept happy
Embarrassment—or worse—can be avoided
Determine and highlight all facts in a story
Can tighten writing
Go beyond spelling and dates—look for causal links, attributions, reporter
assumptions, facts contained within quotes, and memories
Evaluate sources used by the reporter
Confirm everything, using multiple sources for controversial facts
Much of this information can be found in an easy to read book,The Fact
Checker's Bible, by Sarah Harrison Smith. Random House 2004.
fact tracking
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Organize sources used to write the story
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Contact info for interviewees
Website addresses
Copies of documentation
Confirm quotes
a practical how-to
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Read the article through once
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Go at it with your highlighter pen on the second pass
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Organize into types of sources required for verifying
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Telephone SuperPages, WhoWhere
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Databases
• http://www.dclibrary.org/services/libraryathome.html#data
• http://www.nypl.org/databases
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Internet (Librarians Internet Index, Dogpile, Advanced Google)
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Reference book (encyclopedia, dictionary, atlas –could be print or
online
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Others
Sample
ask the feds
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FOIA: Freedom of Information Act
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State versions of the same, e.g. FOIL in NY
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Government Documents – depository libraries
(most of the big ones, academic and public)
have to let you in to use them.
History
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FOIA signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson
on July 4, 1966 and went into effect the following year.
Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments
were signed by President Bill Clinton on October 2,
1996.
October 12, 2001, Attorney General John Ashcroft
released a new FOIA memorandum
2002 amendments - Prohibition on Compliance with
Requests for Information Submitted by Foreign
Governments
What is FOIA?
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Freedom of Information Act (1966) mandates federal government
agencies to comply with public solicitation of information. Agencies
are also subject to penalties for hindering the process of a petition for
information.
However, there are nine exemptions specified and in all cases, the
President has unlimited power in declaring something off-limits or
necessarily classified in the concern of national safety.
The FOIA does not apply to Congress or the courts, nor does it
apply to records of state or local governments. However, nearly
all state governments have their own FOIA-type statutes.
Department of Justice Frequently Requested Records
FOIA Exemptions
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Exemption (b)(1) - National Security Information
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Exemption (b)(2) - Internal Personnel Rules and Practices
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"High" (b)(2) - Substantial internal matters, disclosure would risk circumvention of
a legal requirement
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"Low" (b)(2) - Internal matters that are essentially trivial in nature.
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Exemption (b)(3) - Information exempt under other laws
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Exemption (b)(4) - Confidential Business Information
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Exemption (b)(5) - Inter or intra agency communication that is subject to deliberative
process, litigation, and other privileges
Exemption (b)(6) - Personal Privacy
Exemption (b)(7) - Law Enforcement Records that implicate one of 6 enumerated
concerns
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Exemption (b)(8) - Financial Institutions
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Exemption (b)(9) - Geological Information
FAQs
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Sample FOIA request letters from the Freedom of Information
Center at the University of Missouri School of Journalism
Questions and Answers on the Freedom of Information Act and
the Privacy Act, 1992
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What about costs for getting records under the FOIA?
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How long will it take to answer my request?
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What happens if the agency refuses to give me the information?
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What can I do if my appeal is rejected?
Make sure the documents you want are not already available
elsewhere. When in doubt, ask a Government Documents
Librarian!
obtaining other information
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State and local government information is
not available through the Freedom of
Information Act, but each state has its own
Freedom of Information laws.
What about petitioning the FBI or CIA?
How to file a FOIA request from CIA
– FBI FOIA website
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notes
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Pdfs preferable to html docs
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.edu, .gov sites
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Reputation of sources
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Evaluating web resources tutorial and exercise
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Ask Radical Reference info@radicalreference
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This presentation online
http://radicalreference.info/ncor/fact_up
Look for us in the streets during demonstrations.
We’ll be wearing stuff with the Radical Reference
logo.