Open Doors: Accessing Government Records - Society of Professional Journalists

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Open Doors: Accessing Government Records
Introduction
FOI Basics
FOI and the Courts
FOI and Privacy
FOI and Your Life
FOI and Daily News Coverage
Red Flags
FOI A to Z
Resources
Purchase a Copy

Freedom of Information
FOIA Home
News/Articles
Find FOI in your state
FOI step-by-step guides

Quill: Stories About FOI
– Meet the victims of violence against journalists
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– Student press freedom laws gain momentum

FOI Committee
This committee is the watchdog of press freedoms across the nation. It relies upon a network of volunteers in each state organized under Project Sunshine. These SPJ members are on the front lines for assaults to the First Amendment and when lawmakers attempt to restrict the public's access to documents and the government's business. The committee often is called upon to intervene in instances where the media is restricted.

Freedom of Information Committee Chair

Danielle McLean
Investigative reporter
ThinkProgress
E-mail

@DanielleBMcLean
Bio (click to expand)

Danielle McLean is an investigative reporter at ThinkProgress and chair of SPJ’s Freedom of Information Committee. Over the past five years, McLean has worked as an investigative reporter at the Bangor Daily News and has been published in the Boston Globe, the Boston Herald, the MetroWest Daily News, the Milford Daily News, and dozens of weekly Massachusetts publications. She was ranked no. 13 in Scout Somerville magazine’s list of the top 40 local leaders in the City of Somerville, Massachusetts for her reporting at the Somerville Journal newspaper and has won the New England Newspaper and Press Association’s government, transportation, business and economic, and courts and crime reporting awards. McLean previously served as president of SPJ’s New England chapter, pushing for public records reform and a free press. Under her watch, the chapter won SPJ’s 2014-15 Circle of Excellence award for Freedom of Information.

Home > Freedom of Information > Open Doors > Open Doors Books Available

Open Doors Books Available

Purchase your copy of the Open doors book Today. The Open Doors book is the ultimate Freedom of Information resource:

• FOI “Q &A.” These narratives (basics, the courts, privacy, your life) provide an overview to Freedom of Information concepts and laws. These sections can be reprinted verbatim as editorials or commentaries.

• FOI, the news and the community. This section includes a snapshot of how important FOI is to daily news coverage. Also included is a list of “Red Flags” Ð warning signs of restricted access that should be in the minds of journalists and other advocates of public access.

• FOI “A to Z.” To encourage more reporting on FOI issues, included is an alphabetically-organized list of specific subjects where FOI laws apply. Think of it as an FOI “story tip sheet.”

• FOI resources. “Open Doors” is itself a doorway to other FOI resources that offer more detailed and specific information.When you need FOI resources, let “Open Doors” be your gateway.

• “Open Doors” logos and icons. All “Open Doors” logos and icons may be downloaded and reproduced to make it easy for visual media to flag FOI-related stories.

Single Copy
$14.95 for Non-SPJ members
$9.95 for SPJ members

Bulk Copies
$7.95 per copy for 50 or more copies.

To purchase a copy of the Open Doors book please call 317/927-8000