Benefits of FOIA

In the year 1967, a law introduced into our country called the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), ensures the citizens are aware of what’s going on inside our country. What is FOIA This website is a great source for finding in depth information on how the FOIA benefits the people of the United States of America.

Citizens and journalist have a digital journalist legal guide that serves as a free educational source on rights given to obtain public information. This is not limited to but does include government operations such as court proceeding to keep us in the know of how our judicial system is proceeding.

An article written by Garance Burke, “Soldier who killed 5 Dallas officers showed PTSD symptoms,” the public may not have known the significance of the veteran’s health past.

This information is very vital as it permitted the public to show how the Veterans Health Administration interact with veterans of war. Johnson, the shooter who killed five police officers. Prior to this crime, he told doctors he was showing signs of PTSD. Johnson notes nightmares from seeing comrades blown to pieces.

His psychiatrist evaluated him months before the attack and said he was getting better. Johnson tried for help another time but was put on a waiting list. The VA North Texas Health Care System is the second largest in the country. The wait time is an average of 50 days to obtain help.

Without the help of the FOIA we would not have the ability to know of the inside working of this establishment and how they are not providing help to veterans that are in fact seeking help for the mental instability post war.

michigan FOIA lAW

Michigan FOIA Law Work For You

To better understand what I mean by this let me define the FOIA short for The Michigan Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

“This act provides all persons except those incarcerated in correctional facilities with access to public records. Requests to inspect or receive the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) records must be in writing and must describe the requested records with enough detail that the Department can identify them” According to DHS site. you can request mostly any kind of document, for example, these are some document people need information can be found on this site called Muckrock site

Being biased sure doesn’t pay off

Ethics really does play a big role in one’s everyday communications and overall viewpoints in life.

When journaling or reporting on topics and issues, one’s unique writing skills will be influenced by one’s ethics as well. This is why being non-biased really does play a major part in getting the correct information because facts are a must.(free art from Google library)

Being non-biased while reporting allows the writer to focus more on facts than feelings; now don’t get me wrong, I personally believe all stories should have a sense of feeling, but it can also hinder a writers viewpoint. I, myself as a writer, have fallen victim to writing under emotions toward a story which needed more attention on the facts than the overall issue at hand. When reporting, one can easily hinder their own story by not paying attention to being a non-bias and letting their own feeling affect the fact.

I watched a video on how “Jouranalists Minimize their own Bias,” and i found it to be very helpful because it touched on fact checking, credibility and the importance of not being bias when writing.

The FOIA grants the people public access

The Freedom Of Information Act, (FOIA) was established in 1967, which helped to ensure public access of federal, state or local governments records that are needed for use. All requested information collected on each agency by the individual interested must then be submitted to the FOIA once received, this way there’s a public database full of records and information for all to access.

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Without the FOIA being established, it would make it very difficult to gather needed information and documentation on specific important issues from governmental agencies like the FDA, DEA, and other agencies like the ACLU, which is an agency that focuses on protecting individual rights like helping to protect young girls and women by reporting sexual assault and harassment in specific locations under the law.(free Google picture art)

Federal agencies must disclose all information requested under the FOIA, and I find this to be very interesting to know along with the fact that there’s only nine known exemptions given which protects more than one hundred company privacy laws.

Got facts?

Verification is essential in journalism. Verification is the process of checking facts to determine if they are accurate or not. Journalists need to set verification on the top of their revision-to-do-list because it is not only a large part of ethics but it is also a large part of their careers.

It takes a lot to build a journalist’s credibility but it only takes one false statement to destroy it too. The audience must learn to trust this writer, from the first story they write to their 100th one. When you lose the trust you had between and your readers, it deteriorates your credibility.

This can happen when you don’t verify facts in your story. Verification before it all takes place sounds pretty good then, right?

My data story on post graduate success covering multiple colleges and alumni’s salaries had verification behind it. For example, “University of Pennsylvania are close behind in which alumni are earning more than $163,000,” is an important fact I brought up in my story because it allows comparison of Ivy League graduates to regular university graduates. In order to include this fact in my story, I had to make sure that multiple sources were stating the same information. As you could probably tell, it was a fact that was supported by more than one reliable source so I added it in.

Got facts? Because with verification you will make sure you do!