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For more than 100 years the Society of Professional Journalists has been dedicated to encouraging a climate in which journalism can be practiced more freely and fully, stimulating high standards and ethical behavior in the practice of journalism and perpetuating a free press.

About the Foundation

Since its founding in 1961, the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation has promoted excellence and ethics in journalism. The SDX Foundation is a tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) organization that supports the educational programs of the Society of Professional Journalists and serves the professional needs of journalists and students pursuing careers in journalism.

Excellence in Journalism 2016Sept 7-9, 2017 – Anaheim

Excellence in Journalism is the national journalism conference of the Society of Professional Journalists and the Radio Television Digital News Association. Join us in September in Anaheim for training, networking, workshops and more!

SPJ Leads

SPJ News

SPJ Blogs: Newest Posts

Quill Headlines

Journalist's Toolbox

@SPJ_Tweets

Connect with SPJ

SPJ on Facebook

Upcoming Eventsand Deadlines

Become an SPJ Member

For more than 100 years the Society of Professional Journalists has been dedicated to encouraging a climate in which journalism can be practiced more freely and fully, stimulating high standards and ethical behavior in the practice of journalism and perpetuating a free press.

About the Foundation

Since its founding in 1961, the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation has promoted excellence and ethics in journalism. The SDX Foundation is a tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) organization that supports the educational programs of the Society of Professional Journalists and serves the professional needs of journalists and students pursuing careers in journalism.

Excellence in Journalism 2016Sept 7-9, 2017 – Anaheim

Excellence in Journalism is the national journalism conference of the Society of Professional Journalists and the Radio Television Digital News Association. Join us in September in Anaheim for training, networking, workshops and more!

Journalism Education CommitteeThis committee's purpose is to promote excellence in education programs and practical research. It acts as a clearinghouse for the Society's academic members and students. It also works with annual convention planners on mentor programs both at the college and high school level.

FOI CommitteeThis 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

Gideon Grudo
Digital Platforms Editor
Air Force MagazineE-mail @ggrudoBio (click to expand)
Grudo is currently the digital platforms editor at Air Force Magazine, a DC-based, independent monthly. He was previously on the board of SPJ DC and on the national SPJ board. Before moving to DC in 2013, Grudo was editor of South Florida Gay News and worked on the board of SPJ Florida, spearheading multiple programs on a national level and helping run related conventions.

This assignment provides hands-on experience for reporting or media law students in learning how freedom of information laws work by digging through public documents about a house for sale. This assignment motivates students because of its practical relevancy to their careers and personal lives. By the end of the project, students demonstrate stronger support for open government.

Rationale

Access to public records is essential for democracy, yet many students do not understand how to request documents or its importance in society. This assignment makes access real, relevant, and important to their lives.

Document projects have been found to improve reporting skills, such as through backgrounding individuals in a cemetery (Carol S. Lomicky 2002 GIFT grand prize winner), or conducting access audits of campus or local government agencies (see Terry Wimmers 2002 Project Access GIFT, as well as the Society of Professional Journalists FOI audit toolkit).

This project builds on the cemetery and government audit exercises by focusing on a subject that is relevant to students personal lives, thereby increasing motivation, which Banduras social learning theory suggests is essential for attitude and behavioral change.

Implementation

Available for DownloadDownload a copy of the supplementary handout, "Access for Everyday Life," which contains a list of free government records that can help you buy a home, as well as links to resources that can aid the process.

Week 1
Teams of three to five students are each given the address of a house for sale in the community and told to find out as much about the house and neighborhood as they can from physically acquired public records  no Internet information or people sources. Ideally, assigned houses should be near proposed developments, airport flight paths, or a registered sex offender to better illustrate the value of records.

Students are encouraged to think of potentially useful public records on their own, but are provided a list of ideas to get them started:
• Property tax records including assessed value, owners name, taxes paid and square footage.
• Police reports and sex offender registries.
• Development plans, including road plans, proposed commercial development and zoning for future development.
• Parks plans.
• Airport flight pattern maps that show sound levels.
• School test scores to compare schools.
• EPA records regarding hazardous chemicals and polluted sites.
• Nuisance complaints reported to the city.

Week 2
Students research access laws, primarily state open records laws. They identify the records they will need and what agencies have them, divvying up the responsibility by agency so every student requests records.

Week 3
Students create and submit public records request letters (online generator for each state at www.splc.org). They are instructed to take good notes through the process so they can describe what they did, how the government responded and the outcome. In class they should learn strategies for accessing records.

Weeks 4-8
Students work to get the records. A progress report is due at week 6.

Week 9
Final reports are due that include a team paper describing the neighborhood and house based on what was found in public records, as well as individual papers from each student explaining the law, what they requested, and how they handled the request. Also, students are asked to describe their attitudes toward open government and personal privacy. Teams present their findings to the class.

For a variation of this assignment, teams can access records on campus regarding topics relevant to their lives, such as crime, faculty salaries, class grade distributions, alcohol abuse and department budgets. Students at private universities, where records might be more difficult to acquire, can still do the house-buying exercise.

Impact

Students like this assignment because they become fluent in the law, learn strategies for accessing public records and feel confident in applying this knowledge to their jobs and personal lives.

Class presentations illustrate the successes and problems of access  a surly clerk who crumples a request and tosses it in the garbage, or a pleasant official who takes the afternoon to help find the information. They learn to be skeptical and are astounded at the amount of information that is available to the public.

Also, this assignment increases support for access. Pretest-postest surveys fall 2005 in a media law course found that students who did this project demonstrated greater support for open government than students who did projects on other topics, such as libel or copyright. It is uplifting to see students develop journalistic skills and principles from one assignment.

Im glad I got to do this because I think it is really helpful for my job and personal life in the future, wrote one student in evaluations. Another wrote, The thing I learned most was how much power I have in accessing information!

Journalism Education CommitteeThis committee's purpose is to promote excellence in education programs and practical research. It acts as a clearinghouse for the Society's academic members and students. It also works with annual convention planners on mentor programs both at the college and high school level.

FOI CommitteeThis 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.