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  3. Saving the Freedom of Information Act
  • Cited by 7
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    • Publisher:
      Cambridge University Press
      Publication date:
      October 2021
      October 2021
      ISBN:
      9781108697637
      9781108482745
      9781108710893
      DOI:
      https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108697637
      Dimensions:
      (229 x 152 mm)
      Weight & Pages:
      0.54kg, 272 Pages
      Dimensions:
      (229 x 152 mm)
      Weight & Pages:
      0.41kg, 272 Pages
      • Subjects:
      Constitutional and Administrative Law, Area Studies, American Studies, American Government, Politics and Policy, Law, Politics and International Relations
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    Subjects:
    Constitutional and Administrative Law, Area Studies, American Studies, American Government, Politics and Policy, Law, Politics and International Relations
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    Book description

    Enacted in 1966, The Freedom of Information Act (or FOIA) was designed to promote oversight of governmental activities, under the notion that most users would be journalists. Today, however, FOIA is largely used for purposes other than fostering democratic accountability. Instead, most requesters are either individuals seeking their own files, businesses using FOIA as part of commercial enterprises, or others with idiosyncratic purposes like political opposition research. In this sweeping, empirical study, Margaret Kwoka documents how agencies have responded to the large volume of non-oversight requesters by creating new processes, systems, and specialists, which in turn has had a deleterious impact on journalists and the media. To address this problem, Kwoka proposes a series of structural solutions aimed at shrinking FOIA to re-center its oversight purposes.

    Reviews

    ‘Margaret Kwoka has done a great service in illuminating how one of the world's most famous transparency laws works, and fails to work. Combining pathbreaking empirical research with insightful critique and sensible proposals for reform, Saving the Freedom of Information Act is essential reading for all who care about FOIA.'

    David Pozen - Columbia Law School, New York

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