Saving the Freedom of Information Act

By (author) Margaret B. Kwoka

ISBN13: 9781108710893

Imprint: Cambridge University Press

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Format:

Published: 14/10/2021

Availability: POD

Description
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.
Introduction; Part I. FOIA and Democracy: 1. Why Free Information?; 2. FOIA as Oversight; Part II. Who Makes a Million FOIA Requests: 3. It Is Not the News Media; 4. Immigration; 5. Other First-Person Requesting; 6. FOIA, Inc.; 7. Information Resellers; 8. Idiosyncratic Requesters; Part III. Let Oversight Reign: 9. The Problem with Repurposing FOIA; 10. Affirmative Disclosure; 11. Redesigning Agency Adjudications; 12. Customizing Information Delivery; Conclusion.
  • Political structure & processes
  • Constitutional & administrative law
  • Freedom of information law
  • Professional & Vocational
  • Tertiary Education (US: College)
Height:230
Width:151
Spine:15
Weight:410.00
List Price: £26.99