How’d your FOIA request go? Depends on who you are

[Nieman Lab] The Weekly Wrap: May 03, 2024 How’d your FOIA request go? Depends on who you are “Journalists are infrequent, largely unsatisfied requesters” of public records, according to a recent study of different groups’ experiences with FOIA requests. The [study]( by [A.Jay Wagner]( and [David Cuillier]( was recently published in Journalism and was highlighted in [RQ1]( Mark Coddington and Seth Lewis’s roundup of journalism research that we [republish]( each month (subscribe to the Substack [here](. Wagner and Cuillier looked at the varying experiences “public interest” requesters (“journalists, academics, nonprofits, and private individuals”) and “for-profit requestors” (“commercial requesters and lawyers”) had when they filed FOI requests. RQ1 summed up the findings: “For-profit requesters reported far better experiences with FOI requests than public-interest requesters, who were much more likely to say that requestees reported that they were exempt because of privacy or legal concerns, national security, or trade secrets. (Perhaps relatedly, for-profit requesters were more likely to say that they filed a lawsuit regarding FOI requests.) Yet public-interest requesters were much more likely to see democratic value and positive impact of FOI laws.” Wagner and Cuillier have a number of recommendations for making the process better, including training: “Government agencies should be required (and satisfactorily funded) to provide assistance for public-interest requesters in helping hone their requests, at least for those requesting such aid,” they write. “Also, the public should be educated on their rights to information, much like parts of Mexico require schools teach students how to acquire public records.” I’ve recently come across a couple new resources for brushing up on your FOIA skills. Bloomberg senior investigative reporter [Jason Leopold]( who’s [filed more than 9,000 FOIA requests]( has a [new newsletter]( called “FOIA Files” in which he “uncovers interesting documents never seen before” and also provides tips. (Today’s issue: “[Federal surveillance targeted Israel-Hamas war protests]( And Press On is holding a [free, virtual FOIA training]( for movement journalists and community media on May 14 (sign up by May 10). — Laura Hazard Owen From the week [Pulitzer’s AI Spotlight Series will train 1,000 journalists on AI accountability reporting]( The Pulitzer Center is prioritizing reporters in the Global South, and all the sessions are free. By Andrew Deck. [Even if mistrust in news isn’t entirely reporters’ fault, it is their problem]( Recent work from the Tow Center for Digital Journalism and the Craig Newmark Center for Ethics and Leadership offers recommendations. By Sarah Scire. [Debugging tech journalism]( A huge proportion of tech journalism is characterized by scandals, sensationalism, and shoddy research. Can we fix it? By Timothy B. Lee. [The New York City Tenement Museum used historic Black newspapers to create its latest exhibit]( “Archiving materials still matters even in our digital age, primarily if the stories you explore provide a counter-narrative to the dominant society.” By Hanaa' Tameez. [Why are politicians so negative? (Hint: It’s a media problem)]( Plus: Surprising attitudes about gender and credibility on the beat, how Trump drives outsized mainstream media attention to alternative media, and “sifting” as the key mode of next-gen news consumers. By Mark Coddington and Seth Lewis. [The Financial Times inks new licensing deal with OpenAI]( The ChatGPT developer previously signed deals with The Associated Press, Axel Springer SE, the French newspaper Le Monde, and more. By Andrew Deck. [How I explained AI and deepfakes using only basic Vietnamese]( Using slides, hand gestures, and the Vietnamese vocabulary of a five-year-old, we talked about fake faces. By Lam Thuy Vo, The Markup. Highlights from elsewhere Axios / Sara Fischer [Unlike music and book publishers, news outlets are struggling to present a unified front against AI threat →]( “Right now, figuring out the most lucrative way to partner with AI companies is hard for publishers because there’s no marketplace to help buyers and sellers agree on rates. Some publishers are looking to partner with companies like TollBit, which is building a marketplace to connect AI bots and scrapers with publishers’ verified content for a dynamic fee.” The New Yorker / Jay Caspian Kang [On college campuses, a deepening disillusionment with American institutions — including the press →]( “[One protestor] contrasted what he and other students saw ‘every single day on our phones from civilians quite literally holding different mobile devices and videotaping the horrors’ in Gaza with what he considered ‘the utter lack of reporting from the mainstream media.’ Thanks to those civilians, he said, ‘this is the most documented genocide in history,’ but people who watch only the news don’t know what’s really happening.” The New Yorker / Clare Malone [Is Hunterbrook Media a news outlet or a hedge fund? →]( “Horwitz was slightly evasive when I asked what Hunterbrook pays its journalists. No one was making less than a hundred thousand dollars as a base salary, he said. ‘The upper limit is potentially incredibly high because it’s based on the performance of an investment fund, which is not an upside opportunity that reporters have had access to.’ Another side market for Hunterbrook employees, he went on, is filing whistle-blower reports with the S.E.C.” Poynter / Rick Edmonds [Remember those “hundreds” of journalists Gannett was hiring? Well… →]( “Authorizations to proceed with other hires stopped. Some candidates who were expecting to start soon have had the offer rescinded. According to internal communications, the ‘pause’ has now been rolled over through the second quarter…[Those who have been hired are] on one-year contracts rather than as full-time employees.” Intelligencer / Justin Miller [Can Joanna Coles tame the Daily Beast? →]( “Her version of news is trend pieces and listicles.” The New Yorker / Kyle Chayka [The revenge of the homepage in a post-social world →]( “The major social platforms operated for a long time like digital big-box stores for media content, offering a little of everything all at once…Now digital-distribution infrastructure is crumbling, having become both ineffective for publishers and alienating for users.” The Guardian / Abbas Rezaie [Can journalism survive the Taliban? →]( “The Etilaat Roz was once the most widely circulated newspaper in Kabul, but everything changed in August 2021 when the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan. With journalists tortured in the street for their reporting, the paper’s staff were forced to flee.” Poynter / Fernanda Camarena and Mel Grau [Shut out: Strategies for good journalism when sources dismiss the press →]( “Journalists are historically hesitant to make themselves the story and/or worried that admitting the government is stifling their ability to report the news is a confession of weakness. That needs to stop.” Substack / Ken Klippenstein [Ken Klippenstein is resigning from The Intercept →]( “The Intercept has been taken over by suits who have abandoned its founding mission of fearless and adversarial journalism, and I can’t continue in an environment where fear of funders is more important than journalism itself.” [Nieman Lab]( | [View email in browser]( | [Unsubscribe]( You are receiving this daily newsletter because you signed up for for it at www.niemanlab.org. Nieman Journalism Lab · Harvard University · 1 Francis Ave. · Cambridge, MA 02138 · USA