Three Ideas About Fixing Our Freedom of Information Laws

SECOND ROUGH DRAFT—April 27, 2023—Our freedom of information (FOI) laws are among the best tools for enterprise journalism in this country; they have fueled a broad range of excellent stories. But much of the time, the laws don’t work—they may be admirable in their original design, but are deeply flawed in their administration.

As public policy emerges as a more significant concern for journalism generally, the Charles H. Revson Foundation, and its president, Julie Sandorf, asked me to take a close look at the FOI system in Revson’s (and my) home state of New York. Based on that research, Revson has released a paper on which this week’s newsletter draws quite heavily.

Read the full article here.