Open Records Success: Strategies for Writing Requests and Overcoming Denials

Suggested donation: $20.00

Open Records Success: Strategies for Writing Requests and Overcoming Denials

Learn successful strategies for requesting the records you want, as well as tips for overcoming an agency’s denials.

Start anytime.

Start Anytime

Overview

  • Never filed a records request or still not confident in the process?
  • This self-paced course will help make you proficient in requesting records and overcoming obfuscation.

Suggested donation: $20.00

Suggested donation: $20.00

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

  • Articulate the value public records can provide to reporting
  • Generate their own public records request
  • Execute strategies to overcome records denials

Suggested donation: $20.00

Suggested donation: $20.00

Overview

  • Never filed a records request or still not confident in the process?
  • This self-paced course will help make you proficient in requesting records and overcoming obfuscation.

Training five or more people?
Check out our custom training.

Requesting public records can be daunting for first-timers. Where do you start? What do you write? This course will make the process of requesting public documents easier by showing you precisely how to word your requests and how to overcome objections and denials from public agencies. We’ll walk you through figuring out what records you need, who keeps them and how to request that information from local, state and federal sources. With examples of real-world requests and their results, this course will inspire you to request information that has the power to change the way you report forever.

This course is designed to be completed at your own pace. Students may start anytime and should anticipate spending one to two hours learning.

Students should have access to a computer, the internet and working speakers.

Instructors

  • Barbara Allen
    Marketing Communications Lead and Editor
    Barbara Allen is the marketing communications lead and editor at Poynter. Barbara was formerly the director of college programming at Poynter. She spent most of...
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  • Frank LoMonte
    First Amendment Lawyer, Legal Counsel to CNN
    Frank D. LoMonte is a First Amendment lawyer, educator, researcher and advocate. He currently serves as legal counsel to CNN. Prior to that, he headed...
    Read More