On August 6, 2024, FAC; the Society of Professional Journalists, Northern California; and Bay City News Foundation, with grant support from the Society of Professional Journalists Foundation, hosted Behind the Headlines, a public records training session. This session covered strategies for acquiring public records, tricks for overcoming barriers, ideas for stories that have impact, and included legal expertise from the First Amendment Coalition.
See the slides that accompanied the presentation here.
Featuring:
Candice Nguyen, NBC Bay Area
Headline: 9-1-1: Hanging on the Line
Nguyen, an investigative reporter and member of the SPJ NorCal Freedom of Information Committee, will share how she acquired and used public records to tell the story about failures at Oakland’s 911 call center and the impact the story had. Accolades for the report include the Sidney Hillman award, a Peabody nomination and a Murrow and Emmy for investigative reporting.
Julia Love, Bloomberg News
Headline: Google User Data Has Become a Favorite Police Shortcut
Love, a San Francisco-based technology reporter and recipient of the 2023 James Madison Award given by the SPJ NorCal Freedom of Information Committee, will share how she obtained hard-to-access public records for a story that gave a detailed view of how police across the country use search warrants to obtain Google users’ search history and location information to combat crime. The revelations led to Google announcing it would change its policy.
Holly McDede, KQED radio
Headline: UC Berkeley Students Threaten Hunger Strike to Reinstate Professor Suspended for Stalking
McDede, a reporter for KQED, will give insights on investigating teacher misconduct, with tips on obtaining public records from California schools and universities to do accountability reporting. Learn how she obtained and used public records to answer key questions about why a popular UC Berkeley professor was suspended, a suspension that sparked months of student protests.
Annie Cappetta, Legal Fellow, First Amendment Coalition
Cappetta contributes to FAC’s free Legal Hotline, which provides educational information about the California Public Records Act, other public access laws and the First Amendment. She also represents journalists in public records and First Amendment cases. She will share expertise on how to overcome barriers to public information and go over resources available to all members of the press and public.
Hosted by:
Ginny LaRoe, Advocacy Director, First Amendment Coalition
Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez, President, Society of Professional Journalists, Northern California
Presented by the First Amendment Coalition; the Society of Professional Journalists, Northern California; and Bay City News Foundation, with grant support from the Society of Professional Journalists Foundation.