Freedom of Information (FOI) laws were created to pull back the curtain on government operations, giving the public and journalists tools to expose everything from Pentagon overspending to Flint, Michigan’s lead-contaminated water crisis. New research, however, reveals corporate interests now dominate FOI requests to the detriment of petitions from the citizens and journalists they were meant to empower.
David Cuillier, director of the Brechner Freedom of Information Project at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications, and A. Jay Wagner, Marquette University Diederich College of Communication associate professor of journalism and media studies, explored the contrasting experiences of public-interest and corporate requesters of government information. They surveyed 330 FOI users about their satisfaction with the process.
The findings present a growing disparity in how FOI laws function for different groups.
