Saving the Freedom of Information Act / Margaret B. Kwoka.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kwoka, Margaret B., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States. Freedom of Information Act.

United States.

Freedom of information--United States.

Freedom of information.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (x, 261 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2021.

System Details:

text file

PDF

Summary:

Enacted in 1966, The Freedom of Information Act (or FOIA) was designed to promote oversight of governmental activities, under the notion that most users would be journalists. Today, however, FOIA is largely used for purposes other than fostering democratic accountability. Instead, most requesters are either individuals seeking their own files, businesses using FOIA as part of commercial enterprises, or others with idiosyncratic purposes like political opposition research. In this sweeping, empirical study, Margaret Kwoka documents how agencies have responded to the large volume of non-oversight requesters by creating new processes, systems, and specialists, which in turn has had a deleterious impact on journalists and the media. To address this problem, Kwoka proposes a series of structural solutions aimed at shrinking FOIA to re-center its oversight purposes.

Contents:

Why free information?

FOIA as oversight

It is not the news media - immigration

Other first-person requesting

FOIA, Incorporated

Information resellers

Idiosyncratic requesters

The problem with repurposing FOIA

Affirmative disclosure

Redesigning agency adjudications

Customizing information delivery

Conclusion.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 08 Oct 2021).

Other Format:

Print version:

ISBN:

9781108697637

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.