“FOIA gets violated every day of the week,” says Tisha Thompson, an investigative reporter for ESPN who used to work in local TV news. Over 20 years in the business, Thompson has been ignored, slow-walked and denied when requesting public records. But she learned how to break through the barriers and obtain records that have led to dozens of great stories.
How does she do it? Here are her top tips for journalists.
- Don’t file. Thompson always starts with a phone call, not an email, and definitely not with a formal request. “If I can get them on the phone, I can convince them to do things for me,” she says. Even if she can’t shake loose the information she wants, she can learn exactly what she needs to ask for, which otherwise would take weeks.
- Look first. It’s possible someone else has asked for what you want. Thompson has found documents she needed online and in agency libraries, as well as in agencies’ FOIA logs, where they list open and closed requests. “If they have released records, they should be able to get them to you more quickly.”
- Be specific. When investigating DC’s response to a snowstorm that paralyzed the city, Thompson requested all emails from 12 government officials’ accounts that included the word “snow.” There were 15,000–far too many to be helpful. She sent back a request for emails with the word “plow” and got what she was looking for. “Think through roadblocks you are setting yourself up for,” Thompson says. “They can hide what you are after in a document dump.”
- Get the guide. When you request data, also ask for documents explaining what the data is. “Ask for the record layout and the coding guide,” Thompson advises. “You won’t understand it unless you get [the guide]. And this will tell you where the stories are.
- Be understanding. FOIA officers are overworked and exhausted, so be kind to them. “Being a jerk won’t do you much good,” Thompson says. She tells them she needs their help. “I know you are busy, can you help me figure this out?” They often do.
- Keep a log. Thompson uses a spreadsheet to track every filing, date, FOIA number, what she asked for and where she sent it. She logs every phone call she makes and keeps every email. Why? “This can make or break an appeal.”
- Negotiate. Thompson says she’s never paid more than $200 for public records, although she’s been given astronomical estimates. The University of Maryland once tried to charge her $1.8 million for campus security video. She did the math and asked why they planned to pay an intern $98 an hour–more than the governor makes–to pull the records. They backed down. “You aren’t just fighting for yourself,” Thompson says, “but for any small newsroom, so [officials] learn this is pointless.”
- Manage expectations. Don’t expect something overnight and make sure your managers don’t either. Every state has its own deadlines. Maryland, for example, can take 30 days just to acknowledge a request.
- Appeal. When denied federal records, Thompson has managed to break them loose by filing an excessive delay appeal. She fought for four years to get documents from the U.S. Army, and seven years to get records from the State Department. Was it worth the fight? “Hell to the yes,” she says.
While she’s become an expert at working with public records, Thompson says the bulk of her reporting is talking to sources. She uses FOIA “to prove what’s real.” And she won’t let officials bully her into telling them what she’s working on. “Be nice but don’t give them anything until you’re ready,” Thompson advises. “If you tell them, they are going to destroy those records.”
