Often Records Access Officers Don't Use A "Presumption Of Access" Standard For Freedom Of Information Requests Until They Encounter Media Exposure

A story on the Poynter website lays out the odyssey.For a year, the reporter attempted to FOIL documents from a New York City agency. When he called the records access officer to say he was about to write a story on his efforts to get the documents, a package of documents arrived the next day http://www.poynter.org/2016/running-into-a-brick-wall-with-your-foia-request-take-it-public/409958/

....That’s what New York City reporter Joaquin Sapien did last month. After spending nearly a year trying to get records from the city and exchanging more than 50 emails with a freedom of information officer, he finally had enough.

On April 21, he posted a story on ProPublica with a headline that captured his frustration: “Foiled by FOIL: How One City Agency Has Dragged Out a Request for Public Records for Nearly a Year.”

Sapien allowed readers to experience his frustration by including screenshots of emails he exchanged with the freedom of information officer.....

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