RTI & THE MEDIA Economy of Ghana network: Workshop on RTI & Social Accountability.

RTI in practice  police flouting regulations  compensation payouts  staff suspensions,  spending on contracts and consultants.  Source: university of oxford RTI FOIs have been used in England to obtain information about:

RTI in practice: exemplars (Sunday Telegraph, 22 Oct. 2006) Criminals who are spared prison and given community punishment under the supervision of probation officers commit more than 6,000 offences a month, * Internal report received under FOI

Role of PM’s envoy to Mideast is revealed It reveals that Levy has visited the leaders of Israel, Syria, Jordan and Egypt, and saw Yasser Arafat 11 times. The diary is the first of a senior official to be released under FOI LORD LEVY

The LA police-prostitutes example. RTIs filed in pursuit of one investigation can lead to varying information

Exemplars  Faulty nuclear reactor was allowed to operate without safety alarm (Independent on Sunday, 17 June 2007) Source: Unv of Oxford Report

5Ws and H  Who committed the action?  Who received the action?  Who saw or participated?  Who should have been involved but wasn’t?  What happened?  What breaks the norm?  What was the immediate impact and what is the long range impact?

So exactly how does one embark on an RTI/FOI story? Not so different Identify story idea, probable hypothesis and a plan. Who did what ? Who is doing the action. Who saw the action. Who should have particpated. Who could have done something? expertise? Get editorial approval and prepare a budget Info gathering, investigate, research, interview file for FOTI. What happened? 5Ws Test hypothesis, verify information Arrive at results publish and broadcast

Methods  Where did the story happen  Where could this have happened just as easily  Where else can I get the full story  When did this happen  When did the turning points occur  Why is this happening? Is it isolated?  Why does this story matter?  Why are people behaving the way they are

Methods  How did this happen?  How will things be different because of what happened?

Types of project reporting  Investigative projects:  Wrong doing, abuse, hypocrisy, favoritism, negligence, conflict of interest  Targets: public officials, public figures, institutions, regulatory agencies  Explanatory projects: New trends, the vulnerable, challenge to norm, people over the edge, killers, dying businesses, homeless, aftermath of a tragedy, gun laws, shocking crime