When I speak to journalists about Freedom of Information (FOI), they often tell me they don’t know where to start.

Navigating Australia’s FOI system is a skill most journalists learn on the fly. It is a task that mostly ends in failure, but sometimes turns up pure gold.

To help increase the gold-to-garbage ratio, I’ve published a free 34-page guide to FOI, intended as a practical resource for Australian journalists who want to generate original stories through FOI requests.

Similar guides already exist in the US and the UK, but before now, not in Australia.

My aim was to produce an accessible and useful resource for journalists who want to learn how to use FOI requests in their work.

It includes tips and tricks for navigating the FOI system, including where to find ideas for stories and how to overcome refusals.

It also includes numerous real-life examples of successful news stories based on FOI requests submitted by some of the best journalists in Australia.

FOI can be a frustrating pursuit, but journalists can give themselves the best chance of success by following tried and tested methods used by other reporters.

And when one bit of gold drops into your inbox, suddenly you’ve got an exclusive story created from little more than creative thinking and persistence.

Top FOI tips:

• Be specific about what information you are seeking. Ideally, ask for a document you know already exists, such as a government report. 

• Don’t bother chasing documents that are likely to have zero news value by the time you get them - focus on documents that have a longer shelf-life. 

• Keep your request simple and to the point. Ask for a specific report or a specific piece of correspondence.

• Be firm but polite. Be nice to FOI officers, but don’t take no for an answer. 

• Appeal unfair redactions and refusals - but be prepared to wait for the appeal to be resolved.

Access the guide below.

> Download (PDF)

William Summers is a British-Australian journalist based in Melbourne. He has published FOI-based stories with various Australian media outlets, including Australian Associated Press (AAP), ABC News, Crikey, Guardian Australia and The New Daily. You can contact him at williamsummersfoi@gmail.com.