Fact-Up: Fact-Checking

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• Fact-Up Fact-Checking FOIA Requests
• Presented at NCOR 2006
• by Radical Reference librarians
• Jenna Freedman and Dena Marger

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why fact check?

• Someone other than the reporter filing the story
  should verify all factual material prior to
  publication so that
• The work cant 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
• Embarrassmentor worsecan be avoided
• Determine and highlight all facts in a story
• Can tighten writing
• Go beyond spelling and dateslook 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.

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fact tracking

• Organize sources used to write the story
• Contact info for interviewees
• Website addresses
• Copies of documentation
• Confirm quotes

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a practical how-to

• Read the article through once
• Go at it with your highlighter pen on the second
  pass
• Organize into types of sources required for
  verifying
• Telephone SuperPages, WhoWhere
• Databases
• http//www.dclibrary.org/services/libraryathome.ht
  mldata
• http//www.nypl.org/databases
• Internet (Librarians Internet Index, Dogpile,
  Advanced Google)
• Reference book (encyclopedia, dictionary, atlas
  could be print or online
• Others
• Sample

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ask the feds

• FOIA Freedom of Information Act
• State versions of the same, e.g. FOIL in NY
• Government Documents depository libraries (most
  of the big ones, academic and public) have to let
  you in to use them.

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History

• 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

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What is FOIA?

• 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

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FOIA Exemptions

• Exemption (b)(1) - National Security Information
• Exemption (b)(2) - Internal Personnel Rules and
  Practices
• "High" (b)(2) - Substantial internal matters,
  disclosure would risk circumvention of a legal
  requirement
• "Low" (b)(2) - Internal matters that are
  essentially trivial in nature.
• Exemption (b)(3) - Information exempt under other
  laws
• Exemption (b)(4) - Confidential Business
  Information
• 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
• Exemption (b)(8) - Financial Institutions
• Exemption (b)(9) - Geological Information

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FAQs

• 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
• What about costs for getting records under the
  FOIA?
• How long will it take to answer my request?
• What happens if the agency refuses to give me the
  information?
• 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!

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obtaining other information

• 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

• Pdfs preferable to html docs
• .edu, .gov sites
• Reputation of sources
• Evaluating web resources tutorial and exercise
• Ask Radical Reference info_at_radicalreference
• This presentation online http//radicalreference.i
  nfo/ncor/fact_up
• Look for us in the streets during demonstrations.
  Well be wearing stuff with the Radical Reference
  logo.