FOI Tip (from sociologists): Use "informants" to get inside

Ever feel like public officials don't take you or your records request seriously? Ever run across discrimination because you are a woman, nonwhite, short, obese, or just plain different than the white male officials you deal with? You aren't alone. At an SPJ training session in Moscow, Idaho, a few weeks ago I chatted with a few female journalists who mentioned that they had problems getting male police to take them seriously when getting information or records. Indeed, research shows people are more likely to say "yes" to people who are tall, white, blue-eyed, trim, and male. It shouldn't matter what you look like or who you are when you request records (most FOI laws even state that officials can't deny a record based on who a person is), but in my research I notice that the white guys achieve more compliance (I also notice that dressing better seems to improve compliance). That's racism and sexism at work.

So what do you do if you aren't a tall, trim, white guy? You can go about your business and say officials be damned, and use other techniques to get compliance (including suing if you can!). Or, you can consider a technique used by sociologists to get into a different culture:  "informants."

No, I'm not talking about spies. Informants are people you can take with you into a different "culture" to help get integrated and accepted. One of the Idaho journalists said she would take a tall white guy with her to the police station and they would talk to him. After a few visits they would take her seriously too. I've used this technique when covering tribes. I noticed that if I drove around a reservation alone I would get dirty looks - I'm a white guy who looks like a federal BIA bureaucrat. So I would find a respected tribal member and have that person drive me around. People were more likely to accept me and give me access to information. Now, the initial suspicion could be directed toward strangers and an informant might help regardless of what you look like. In any case, having that person seems to help. If you are covering an agency, have a clerk or respected long-time mid-level manager show you around and introduce you to people. Even the PIO is better than nobody.

We shouldn't have to use informants to have people accept us and provide records, but the reality is that understanding people's minds help open doors to the information you need.