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The Reporters Committee and its FOI Service Center provide help for journalists seeking to obtain information from government agencies, both federal and state. Some of the ways we are able to assist you are:

FOI Request Letters

Yes, it's simple, but there are a few tips and tricks to get it right. Try our fill-in-the-blanks FOI Letter Generator, or call our Hotline for more specific information.

Hotline

The Reporters Committee maintains a toll-free Hotline to answer your questions. Although it is answered 24-hours-a-day, non-emergency questions will be handled more promptly during business hours, Eastern time.

An introduction to the Federal FOI Act

A short article about how journalists can use the FOI Act in their stories.

FOI Guides and Publications

The Reporters Committee publishes "How to use the Federal FOI Act." The ninth edition was published in June 2004, and is available by sending $5 (including shipping) to The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, 1815 N. Fort Myer Drive, Suite 900, Arlington, VA 22209. Call (703) 807-2100 for more information, or jump to the publications order form.

In addition, The Reporters Committee offers guides for each state's (and the District of Columbia's) open records and meetings acts, called "Tapping Officials' Secrets," which can be read here on our Website. These guides are available for $10.00 (including shipping) from the address above. Please specify state when ordering. The entire collection in one bound volume is available for $99 (plus $7.50 shipping) or $49 on CD-ROM.

The committee also offers a guide to "Access to Electronic Records," providing an overview and a 50-state summary of laws affecting computerized government records.

Our bi-weekly newsletter and quarterly magazine (to which you can subscribe through our order form) also cover freedom of information issues in depth.


A service of
The Reporters Committee
for Freedom of the Press
rcfp@rcfp.org