It’s the end of Sunshine Week, the time when we discuss transparency in public records, documents and data. And leading up to the week, we held a FOIA and records class with the News Creator Corps Spring 2026 cohort, led by journalist Steven Potter.
A few points were made really evident during discussions about open records with creators:
- Many people (even journalists) are unaware of the breadth and scope of information that is public and can be found with tailored searches.
- That means it’s usually too cumbersome for citizens to find.
- The processes of how to request and access civic data need to be taught more widely across all topic areas – lifestyle included.
If you are also considering these topics, or are a creator new to this concept, here are a few places to start:
- The public meeting notes of a company in your beat.
- Education and city hall meeting notes and transcripts.
- Your local city licenses and inspection site where you can search information about a business or property.
- Video from public cameras.
- Government employee salary information.
- Background data on your favorite non-profit.
- Messages or emails between city officials about a topic in your beat.
In an effort to share and teach, the Spring class did a few requests of their own. Some of these posts show how creators can teach their audiences how to read public records themselves. Some explain what a FOIA is to an unaware following. Some use requested records to talk about their beats of choice.