freedom of information some tips for community journalists darryl chamberlain...

Freedom of Information

Some tips for community journalists

Darryl Chamberlaindarrylchamberlain.co.uk @darryl1974

Here’s what I do….

853blog.com

Greenwich and neighbouringareas in south east London

Covering stories others don’t

Holding Greenwich Council and other bodies to account

Here’s what I do…

charltonchampion.co.uk

Community news and what’s happening in Charlton

Designed to be a neutral forumfor local news and views

Here’s what I do…

No to Silvertown Tunnel

Campaign against new roadcrossing of the Thames

New road would increasealready-horrifying levels of airpollution in south-east and east London

Other media in SE London

News Shopper (Newsquest)Based well outside local areaHas recently lost dedicated local reporters for Greenwich and LewishamPrint edition poorly distributed

Other media in SE London

Mercury (Tindle Newspapers)Runs on a skeleton staff, based well outside local areaIs a free paper, yet copies are hard to findTook until summer 2015 to launch a proper website

Other media in SE London

Greenwich Time (Greenwich Council)One of just two council weeklies left in EnglandDistributed to every home in Greenwich boroughGives a rosy glow on local council policies – week in, week out

The main players

• Greenwich Council – my local council

• Neighbouring councils such as

Lewisham

• Transport for London – agency run by

elected mayor of London which runs

public transport and main roads.

Why submit an FOI request?

• To find out figures

• To see how money is being spent

• To find views that’d otherwise be

kept secret

• To obtain documents

FOI to find out figures

FOI to find out figures

FOI to find out figures

Emirates Air Line FOI• Asked for hourly breakdown over a

week

• Asked for sales of a wide range of

tickets

• Exercise has been repeated over

three years

• Story generated London and UK

coverage

Emirates Air Line FOI

Emirates Air Line FOI

Follow the money

Follow the money• Greenwich Council’s private mayor-

making celebration costs £20,000

• Invite lists reveal it’s used to

schmooze property developers and

reward chums

• Asking for wine list added colour to

story

Follow the money

Section 106 payments on new developments such as supermarkets – where do they go?

FOI on new Charlton Sainsbury’s revealed no cash earmarked for local area

Revealing disagreements

Greenwich’s cycling sulk

• Greenwich Council was only one of 32

London boroughs to refuse to deal with

the mayor’s cycling commissioner

• This was based on council leader’s

personal dislike of the commissioner,

controversial journalist Andrew Gilligan

Greenwich’s cycling sulk

• I asked the Greater London Authority

for correspondence between Gilligan

and Greenwich Council

• Publishing the documents

embarrassed the council into

reversing its position

Find out why projects fail

FOI to get documents

FOI to get documents

• Council-commissioned study into possible

Docklands Light Railway extension – wasn’t

published on website, but obtained using FOI.

• Council cabinet had backed spending money on a

follow-up report, but was unwilling to make it

public. FOI ensured it was made public.

FOI to get documents

• Failed funding applications

• Audio recordings of council meetings

• Safety assessments of public

structures

• Officer briefings to elected officials

Opening up consultations

• You can ask for all responses to

public consultations

• No to Silvertown Tunnel has entire

dataset from 2014 consultation,

enabling campaign to map responses

and gauge support for scheme

Some final thoughts on FOI

• No two councils are the same – some

are more open than others.

• Have a good idea of what you expect

to see – be as specific as possible in

your request

Some final thoughts on FOI

Some final thoughts on FOI

• WhatDoTheyKnow.com is very useful in

enabling you to track your requests

• It also lets you monitor requests to your

local council and check nobody’s asked for

information already

• BUT… others may use your information

without crediting you for your research

Some final thoughts on FOI

• Are there other ways to get your

information? Try press office or

asking public question at a council

meeting.

• Just ask – the more questions you

ask, the better your stories will be.

Some final thoughts on FOI

Thanks for listening

darrylchamberlain.co.uk

@darryl1974