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Columbia Journalism Review
April 20, 2020

A battered FOIA collides with the $2 trillion bailout
By Mya Frazier


Indeed, the threat of a lawsuit is a weapon more easily wielded by powerful media institutions, according to data compiled by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, or TRAC. The research center at Syracuse University maintains a “News Media List,” a database of FOIA lawsuits since 2001. A review of the list shows that it’s far more common to see lawsuits by organizations such as the Center for Public Integrity, which has filed thirteen since 2001. Or New York–based digital outlets such as BuzzFeed, which has filed at least fifteen. (That’s not counting the numerous lawsuits filed individually by its senior investigative reporter, Jason Leopold, who in his Twitter bio refers to himself as a “FOIA terrorist.”)


Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, Syracuse University
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