Is “FOIA” Really For ya?

Taking a deeper look into the Freedom of Information Act

Many are not familiar as to what”FOIA” is or what i really stands for. FOIA is an acronyms that stands for the “Freedom of Information Act”. This is act is put in place to enforce that any person that would like to obtain any government records while still being protected from public disclosure. The act originally being enacted on July 5th, 1967, it serves a a right of public access to all people. So what significance does the FOIA have in todays society?

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The FOIA Serves a great importance to society; Some of these events have been listed on Tumblr,and they showcase the importance of the FOIA act , and how it protected the people that were involved. One of the most relevant positive outcomes of FOIA , is how it was used with drug take down here in the United States. The Washington Post, created an article titled, ” Former DEA investigators: ‘People were dying’ while opioid cases languished”

With drugs having such a heavy impact on our economic infrastructure, neighborhoods, and other parts of citizenship, with out the FOIA people that were investigating this case would have not obtained documents referencing the drops in actual enforcement over this matter. Although it may seem very minute, a lot of documents that remain hidden can often be used for the greater of common good.

FOIA powered immigration story

FOIA stands for the Freedom of Information Act (1997), and this act gives the public the right to disclose public information controlled by the U.S. government. FOIA helps the public such as journalists to request public information from the government that could support their stories and inform the reader.

Looking through different public stories that are FOIA powered stories, and these public stories were disclosed by the U.S. government. The story I chose to discuss is titled As Central American Gangs Increasingly Target Children More Minors are Fleeing the U.S.

This story is talking about student gang members in central El Salvador. A gang has sexually assaulted a 12 year old girl and killed her cousin. The article goes to talk about how the girl’s Parents had to migrate to the U.S. and wanted to have their kids join them mainly for safety reasons. However, the family didn’t end up having the kids come to the U.S. because at the time the U.S. government paid 130 million dollars to increase security on the U.S. Mexican borders.

As an American, I want to have protected borders; however, read migrants’ stories and the reason behind their immigration makes me have mixed feelings especially if that could help a child’s life.

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How FOIA affects journalists

The Freedom of Information Act gives the government, journalists and citizens access to public records that cannot be found online.

Journalists went into detail about their experiences with FOIA at an event hosted by the Detroit Free Press. For example, Jim Schafer, professor at the University of Michigan – Dearborn and staff writer for the Detroit Free Press, has made FOIA requests for the Kwame Kilpatrick scandal, where the Detroit Free Press broke the story.

Police reports are the most common form of documents requested through FOIA, along with information, according to the event. The journalists advise to send a FOIA request as the last option, because chances are that information is public online.

The most interesting thing about FOIA is due to the advances in technology. Journalists and citizens are able to now request body cam footage. This is a great opportunity to review a situation further than a police report document, however, there are chances that footage can be exempt.

Exemption has been a problem for the journalists at the event. FOIA can black out any information that may give private information or the details needed to complete a story. The Detroit Free Press once requested medical records about the legionnaires outbreak at the beginning of the Flint water crisis. When the Press received the document, there was about 160 pages of blacked out information.

There are many pros and cons to FOIA, but if anything ever goes wrong, journalists are able to sue to receive information or to get money back. It is possible to lose the lawsuit. FOIA can be difficult at times but it provides a great system to receive information, especially being an investigative journalist.

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