{"id":978,"date":"2018-03-28T14:12:58","date_gmt":"2018-03-28T14:12:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/journalism\/?page_id=978"},"modified":"2026-03-17T14:41:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T14:41:15","slug":"write-an-foia-letter","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/journalism\/write-an-foia-letter\/","title":{"rendered":"FOIA: How & why to file"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0HOW:\u00a0<\/b>First, just ask.<\/strong> Go directly to the head of the agency and ask for the records you are seeking, without invoking the Freedom of Information Act.\u00a0 Often\u00a0 times agencies will freely share records if they do not involve personal privacy issues and are clearly areas of government activity and public interest.<\/p>\n

If the agency\u00a0 refuses your request, or ignores it, you may have to file an FOIA request. Begin by finding the agency FOIA officer. Sometimes it’s the public information officer, sometimes it’s a higher-level official.\u00a0 Write directly to her or him.<\/p>\n

Your FOIA request should be very specific in order to minimize the time, effort and money you and the agency spend on this process.<\/p>\n

The letters are usually written along these lines:<\/p>\n

Dear Mr.(Ms.) _________<\/p>\n

Under the Virginia State Freedom of Information Act, Virginia Code Title 2.2, Ch. 37, I am respectfully requesting reports or overviews of ___________ (subject)\u00a0 during ________ (time) generated by ______ (agency name).<\/p>\n

(Next, explain the circumstances of your request.\u00a0Perhaps you have already asked for that information and have been refused for reasons that seem contrary to the FOIA act.)<\/p>\n

(Next, ask for an exemption from fees). Since this request involves public information, and since we intend to use the information in ________ (name of your news organization)\u00a0 with the purpose of informing the public, we are requesting an exemption from any records processing or searching charges.<\/p>\n

(Sign your letter and include your email, phone and other contact information.)<\/p>\n

For more information, check out the Society of Professional Journalists SPJ pages on FOIA<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

\n
ALSO<\/b><\/div>\n
Sunshine week:\u00a0 \u00a0<\/b><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

https:\/\/www.spj.org\/sunshine-week\/<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0https:\/\/cardinalnews.org\/2026\/03\/16\/sunshine-week-a-look-behind-the-curtain\/<\/a><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0HOW:\u00a0First, just ask. Go directly to the head of the agency and ask for the records you are seeking, without invoking the Freedom of Information Act.\u00a0 Often\u00a0 times agencies will freely share records if they do not involve personal privacy … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"full-width-page.php","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-978","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=978"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2308,"href":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/978\/revisions\/2308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}