Using FOI to revisit fire stories

I was impressed by this use of FOI. Like many things with FOI, it’s all about the right application of the tool. The Teesside Gazette covered, as you would expect, a fire at a school in its area late last year. School fires, as any journalist who has worked in a local newsroom will tell

FOI Friday: Teachers ignoring FGM advice, fines for school parking, food shoplifting and hospital repairs backlogs

Teachers ignoring FGM guidance < London Evening Standard Less than half of headteachers in London have read official guidance on stopping female genital mutilation, new figures revealed today. The guidance, which tells teachers how to identify girls who are at risk or who have suffered mutilation, was emailed to every school in the country. But

FOI Friday: 10 stories which show how FOI helps local media make a difference

This week is Local Newspaper Week, run by the newspaper industry and the Newspaper Society, to promote the important work done by the local and regional press. The theme this year has been ‘making a difference’ – highlighting the campaigns regional newspapers have run which have helped change the communities they live in for the

FOI Friday: Teachers causing concern, prisoners on Facebook, school place fraud and teenage career criminals

Teachers on the ‘concern list’ < Basildon Echo ALMOST 170 teaching staff are on a council list showing there are concerns about their working in schools. They are not barred from working, but schools will be aware of the list of concerns, compiled by Essex County Council. A total of 23 teachers and 14 other

Why emotional reaction should help decide the news stories you write

Did you read the story about the woman who gained hearing for the first time in 40 years thanks medical advances at a hospital in Birmingham? It’s a story which was made or the more memorable because it came with video, provided by the patient’s family, and broadcast first on the website of the Birmingham

FOI Friday: Blue badge worries, beasts in Cumbrian, thefts from councils and naughty cyclists

This week’s FOI list is dominated by two stories made possible by the BBC – a nationwide investigation into how well developer money given to councils is spent, followed by questions about how many people visit A and E more than once, which uncovered some people visiting more than 100 times a year!

FOI FRIDAY: Booze seized, student homes, £690 a shift at the council and meals worth £150k thrown away

10 good examples of FOI in action from the local, regional and national media: 1. The rise in the number of student homes (Falmouth Packet) A startling statistic emerging from a Freedom of Information request which is then built upon to find out the impact behind said statistic – the recipe for a strong FOI-based

FOI Friday: Truancy figures done properly, the data protection FOI strikes gold again, and a greater focus on public transport crime

  10 good examples of FOI in action from the local, regional and national press: 1. The injuries caused to postmen by dogs – Wales On Sunday Dog bites postman may not be the most original story of all time – but the injuries postmen in Wales receive when attacked by dogs was certainly eye-opening

FOI Friday: Councils profiting on death, the food police, monitoring the impact of cuts and gun injuries uncovered

10 good examples of FOI in action from the local, regional and (in one case), national press: 1. One ‘L’ of an FOI – Yorkshire Evening Post The YEP made the most out of a familiar FOI – asking for stats relating to driving tests – to create something which was much more informative than the

FOI Friday: Bad living conditions, school repair backlogs, teen drug dealers and the return of schoolyard compo

  Revealing the findings of ‘neighbourhood renewal assessments’ – Stoke Sentinel Here’s one which could run and run across the country. The Stoke Sentinel reports on the findings of a council ‘neighbourhood renewal assessment’ – the likes of which are carried out by councils all over the place. A NEW report has painted a sobering