NY Times Public Editor Relates FOIA Fights Behind Stories Government Tried to Block

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The reporting battles behind two recent high-profile New York Times articles –- struggles with truculent federal agencies for access to public records — were detailed in a report by the paper’s Public Editor Clark Hoyt. It took two years, and a law suit, before reporter David Barstow got requested records on the Pentagon briefings, special access and trips provided to influence former generals acting as TV news analysts on war issues. In another case, it was two months after reporter Nina Bernstein wrote her first story on the deaths of prisoners in immigration detention that she received requested records listing those who died. (5/12/08)