Intro to FOI – Accessing Public Records with the Friendly State News

Learn how to file a records request with with Jessica Huseman of the Friendly State News

This training will teach you how to file a records request. We’ll go over what types of information you can request and which organizations have to share that information with you. Finally, we’ll talk about how applying the information gained through records requests will enhance your writing.

Jessica Huseman is the owner and lead trainer of The Friendly State News, which aims to bring the high-quality education found at elite journalism schools to freelancers, students and small newsrooms. She is the editorial director of Votebeat. She has been a journalism educator at Columbia Graduate School of Journalism and New York University, and has taught courses at IRE/NICAR and for the Ida B. Wells Association. In the spring of 2022, she will teach a course on public records access at American University. While a reporter at ProPublica, she developed a 10-course investigative journalism curriculum for high school students, which is in use by more than 200 high schools. For this effort, along with her work helping ProPublica run Electionland, she received the Society of Professional Journalists’ Sunshine Award for Significant Contributions to Open Government.

If you have questions about the content of the trainings, please reach out to Jessica at jessica@thefriendlystatenews.com.