Joey Senat, associate professor at Oklahoma State University, prepared this presentation, 10 Habits of Highly Effective Open-Records Users, for NewsTrain in Norman, Oklahoma, on March 4, 2017. It encourages journalists to have an open government state of mind and to know Oklahoma's Open Records Act. It also offers responses to common reasons given for the denial of public records. It is accompanied by two handouts: Requesting Public Records in Oklahoma and Where to Find Information on... NewsTrain is a training initiative of Associated Press Media Editors (APME). More info: http://bit.ly/NewsTrain

1. 10 HABITS OF
HIGHLY EFFECTIVE
OPEN-RECORDS
USERS
Joey Senat, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
School of Media & Strategic Communications
Oklahoma State University

2. LET’S START WITH
ATTITUDE
Develop …

3. 1. An Open Government State of Mind
■ Don’t be shy about asking for public
records or attending public meetings.
■ Access to governmental records and
meetings is the only way we can study and
challenge decisions made by those elected
or hired to govern.

4. 1. An Open Government State of Mind
■ Information = Political Power
■ Secrecy = Corruption, Incompetency & Inefficiency
• “Openness in government is essential to the functioning of
a democracy.
• “To verify accountability, the public must have access to
government files.”
– Okla. Pub. Emp. Assoc. v. State ex rel. Okla. Office of Pers. Mgmt., 2011 OK 68, ¶ 36

5. 1. An Open Government State of Mind
■ Secrecy = Corruption, Incompetency & Inefficiency
■ “Public access to government files …
1. Checks against the arbitrary exercise of official power
and secrecy in the political process,
2. Gives private citizens the ability to monitor the manner
in which public officials discharge their public duties,
and
3. Ensures [performance] in an honest, efficient, faithful,
and competent manner.”
■ Vandelay Entm’t LLC v. Fallin, 2014 OK 109, ¶ 26

6. 2. Documents State of Mind
■Why records are important:
– Tangible evidence
– Verify or contradict what sources said
– Provide details that sources can’t
remember.

7. 2. Documents State of Mind
■Why records are important:
– Provide more information than reporter
could gather alone
– Contain verbatim accounts
– Make historical comparisons using
records issued at regular intervals

8. 2. Documents State of Mind
■Questions to ask about records:
– How was the information obtained?
– What motivated the writer of this
record?
– How complete is it? What’s missing?
– What might be wrong about the
analysis?

9. 2. Documents State of Mind
■Assume that somewhere a record exists
with the information you need.
■Think of the paper trail in your life.

10. Circle of Life
By Duff Wilson & Deb Nelson
■ Background a person:
– Write the person’s name in the middle of paper or
white board.
– Around the name, write down roles the person
has in life (e.g., married person, business owner,
driver, pet owner, property owner, pilot).
– Then write the records available for each role.

11. Joey
Senat
Husband
Faculty
Member
at Public
University
Property
Owner
Registered
Voter

12. 3. Be Lucky, Not Lazy
■ “I’ve met a lot of lucky reporters. I’ve
never known a single lazy lucky reporter.”
– Jim Polk
■ Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of Watergate
■ Sigma Delta Chi national reporting award
■ Raymond Clapper award twice as best reporter in Washington, D.C.
■ NBC investigative reporter
■ Senior producer for CNN's Special Assignment

13. 3. Be Lucky, Not Lazy
■Why aren’t there lazy lucky reporters?
– The lucky reporters never quit trying.
– They always keep looking for records and sources.
– It is the drudgery of making sure of details that
uncovers the unexpected.
– Just ask Sean Hill.

14. MAKE YOUR OWN
LUCK
BE a LUCKY
REPORTER
Photo under a Creative Commons license by Flickr user John

15. 4. Know the Open Records Act
■Boone State University officials in Toad
Lick, Okla., are negotiating to purchase
Moose Mall, a shopping center
adjacent to campus. Reporters for The
O'Golly, learned about the
negotiations, but university officials
are refusing to be interviewed.

16. 4. Know the Open Records Act
■O'Golly reporter Suzy Sophomore
asked to inspect all university records
regarding the decision to purchase the
mall. University officials said she could
not have the information unless she
filled out a form explaining why she
wanted it.

17. 4. Know the Open Records Act
■Officials then refused to release the
records until BSU Vice President Larry
Birdbrain returns from a conference in
a few days. Birdbrain is the only
person authorized to release the
records and also should be on hand to
answer her questions, university
officials explained.

18. 4. Know the Open Records Act
■Sophomore also asked to inspect all
shopping mall-related emails that
officials had sent or received on their
private email accounts. Officials
refused her request, saying emails on
private email accounts are just that --
private -- and that BSU doesn’t have
access.

19. 4. Know the Open Records Act
■Officials also said Sophomore would
have to pay for copies of any records
she wanted to inspect. The copying
cost would be $2.50 per page. They
also charged her a search fee of $100
per hour.

20. 4. Know the Open Records Act
■Sophomore learned that Toad Lick PD
had used its drone to shoot video of
the shopping mall and surrounding
area. BSU officials had viewed the
video at the TLPD. Sophomore asked
TLPD for a copy of the video. Officials
refused, saying drone video isn’t in the
ORA’s definition of public record.

21. 4. Know the Open Records Act
■Presumption of Openness
– All records are PRESUMED OPEN
UNLESS statutorily exempted.
OPEN
Exempted

22. 4. Know the Open Records Act
■Presumption of Openness
• Always assume a record is open.
• It’s up to the government official to
explain why it is not.
• Ask the official to cite the exemption.
• Check the exemption! Does it apply?

23. 5. Find Records Pertaining to Your Beat
Statutes
• Federal: Library of Congress
(www.loc.gov/law/help/statutes.php)
• State: OSCN.net (Click: Legal Research / Okla.
Statutes Citationized)
Regulations
• Electronic Code of Federal Regulations
(www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/ECFR)
• Okla. Secretary of State (www.sos.ok.gov/oar/)

24. 5. Find Records Pertaining to Your Beat
Court cases:
• Federal: Legal Information Institute
(www.law.cornell.edu/federal/opinions.html)
• State: OSCN.net (Click: Legal Research / Oklahoma Cases)
Reports:
• U.S. Government Accountability Office (www.gao.gov)
• Okla. State Inspector and Auditor (www.sai.ok.gov/)
Read them! Don’t rely solely on the interpretation of
others.

25. 6. Map the Agency
Read its website to find out what it does.
Statutes and regulations often prescribe what
records must be kept and how they must be
published and stored.
• Oklahoma General Records Retention Schedule
(libraries.ok.gov/state-employees/records-
management/records-scheduling/)

26. 6. Map the Agency
What records does this agency produce?
Who has those records?
• Master list of records?
• Ask for blank forms
• Government programs funded by higher
governments must issue progress reports or audits to
those higher governments.
• During interviews, always ask government officials
for documentation.

27. 7. Get in the HABIT
(SPJ’s Access Across America)
■ FOI First on Fridays
– Every Friday (or whatever day of the week works
best for you), submit a public records request.
– Track your requests in a spreadsheet. Follow up.
– What records should you start requesting?

28. 7. Get in the HABIT
(SPJ’s Access Across America)
■ Train the Agency
– Get the agency used to you asking for records. Ask first
for tame records, such as reports, expenses and
contracts.
– Ask for emails of the mayor for the past week.
– When you find you really need those email records,
they’ll be accustomed to providing that kind of
information.

29. 7. Get in the HABIT
(SPJ’s Access Across America)
■ Get Inspired
– During lunch, visit FOI websites to see the great work
other journalists are doing with documents.
• IRE’s Tipsheets and Stories (www.ire.org)
• SPJ’s Quill magazine (www.spj.org/quill.asp)
• SPJ’s Open Doors (www.spj.org/opendoors.asp)
– See the challenges they face. Even though it seems like
your readers and sources might not seem to care about
access, know that you aren’t alone. Others like you are
out there.

30. 7. Get in the HABIT
(SPJ’s Access Across America)
■ FOI Poaching
– Routinely request all the FOI requests an
agency has received.
– Learn:
• What tips or projects other reporters are working on.
• What records the public seeks.
• If the agency routinely denies access to records lawfully
open.

31. 8. Remember the 3 I’s
■ Individual
■ Institution
■ Issue
■ Different records available for each one.
■ Focus on appropriate level of government to
find the records.

32. 9. Politely (but firmly) Request Records
■Ask in person.
– A clerk behind the counter can be more helpful than
accessing records electronically because clerks can
frequently provide records not available online.
(Remember Sean Hill.)

33. 9. Politely (but firmly) Request Records
■ Look for FREE first before asking for copies.
• Use your smartphone to take photos or scan the
documents.
• Ask for electronic files on CD or emailed for free.
• Remember: No search fees for news media, scholars,
authors and taxpayers seeking to determine if
government is doing its job honestly and competently.

34. 9. Politely (but firmly) Request Records
■ Be polite (but persistent).

35. 9. Politely (but firmly) Request Records
■ If the agency official seems unsure:
• Argue for your interest (I wish to analyze ambulance
response times to find trouble spots), not positions (I
want your database).
• Allow face saving by suggesting that the legal
department examine the issue.

36. 9. Politely (but firmly) Request Records
■ If the agency official seems unsure:
• Apply negotiation jujitsu (David Cuillier & Charles Davis)
– Invite criticism and advice for how to analyze the
information.
– Use questions instead of statements.
– Use silence after an unreasonable attack.
– End conversations with a compliment.

37. 10. Don’t Just Take No For an Answer
■ “The record doesn’t exist.”
– Ask the officials who would have generated the
record.
– Don’t rely on the word of a single person.
– Ask the supervisor or other person in charge.

38. 10. Don’t Just Take No For an Answer
■ “The record doesn’t exist in an electronic
format.” (or a specific electronic format)
– Does that make sense?
– Ask how the information was generated.
– Does the agency use a pencil and paper? Typewriter?
That would be NEWS.

39. 10. Don’t Just Take No For an Answer
■ “Copying the data with fields redacted would
create a new record, and we aren’t required to
do that.”
– Not creating a new record. It’s copying existing data.
– No different from getting a copy of a paper file with
some information (fields) redacted with a black pen.

40. 10. Don’t Just Take No For an Answer
■ “Our proprietary software doesn’t allow us
to copy data.”
– Confer with the agency computer technicians.
– Call the software maker. No doubt the company will
want everyone to know how useful and versatile the
software is and explain how to copy the data.

41. 10. Don’t Just Take No For an Answer
■ The agency hasn’t responded to your request.
– Go by or call every day to find out what happened.
– Address another letter or email to the agency head,
elected officials overseeing the agency, and your state
legislators.
o Note that you haven’t received a response.

42. 10. Don’t Just Take No For an Answer
■ Get help.
• FOI Oklahoma (foioklahoma.org)
• Tell your readers or viewers.
– They’re not saying “no” to just you. It’s to the
public as well.
– Explain what the law says and why access to the
record is important.

43. 10. Don’t Just Take No For an Answer
■ Don’t get mad. Get busy!
– Where else could the information be found? Go find it.