Every now and again, it happens. The doorbell rings, and another fat package of once-secret official documents is handed over, and I get excited.
Maybe it’s just me, but the prospect of leafing through the previously private thoughts of public agencies always produces a little thrill. Sometimes, of course, they are as boring as Reality Television. But not always.
The last parcel to arrive, for instance, was about nuclear waste. More than four years after my initial request, a week later than promised and after all sorts of shenanigans, the Scottish Government at last released a four-centimetre stack of documents from their nuclear waste files.
The files are part of one of the longest-running and most complex cases so far handled by the Scottish Information Commissioner, Kevin Dunion. More are due to be released later this year, and together they look likely to result in a significantly enhanced understanding of a hotly disputed area of policy - how and where to dump radioactive waste from nuclear power and weapons programmes.
The nuclear waste files are just one of 173 requests I have made under the freedom of information legislation since 2005. Roughly half of the requests have led to stories being published in the Sunday Herald, The Guardian, New Scientist and elsewhere.
The legislation, covering both the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004, has become a vital tool for journalists. All kinds of information, previously kept secret by public agencies, has now become available if you ask the right questions.
MPs’ expenses, surgeon’s track records, and frightening accident scenarios for nuclear weapons convoys have all become public because of the new legislative regime. Literally hundreds of stories over the past five years have been made possible.
The key to making a successful freedom of information request is to know where the 'bodies are buried'. Or, failing that, to at least have an inkling of where inconvenient truths may be hidden.
Freedom of information (FoI) requests don’t replace the investigatory methods traditionally used by journalists, they supplement them. By far the best requests are those that rely on insider tip-offs on what to look for.
Put another way, it is probably better to go angling for specific information, rather than drift-netting for huge shoals of documents. Requests that are too broad and general are in any case liable to result in charges being levied.
Making FoI requests also requires patience, tenacity and organisation. Although some public agencies are very good, others will string you along, or even forget you. So you need to be persistent, polite, and keep a record.
With luck, it can be a rewarding process. I have learnt a great deal about the process of government and the practice of spin from the many responses I’ve read, as well as sourcing scores of good stories.
Anyone can do the same.
Rob Edwards is a freelance journalist, including environment editor at the Sunday Herald newspaper. Visit his website here and follow him on Twitter here.
