Open records blogging has multiplied

When I started this blog a little over a year ago, there was a fair amount of static information available online about FOIA laws at the state level. But, sometimes a week or so would go by with almost no blog or news mentions of state sunshine issues.

That’s changed a lot. My RSS feed hums along all day picking up new mentions–I’d say that blogging about state sunshine issues and requests has increased by a factor of five over a year ago.

There’s been less of a change in news coverage–I’d say the quantity has doubled. Considering that newsrooms are laying off investigative reporters, the very reporters most likely to file state-level FOIAs, my impression is that what has mostly accounted for the uptick in quantity of coverage is that more political opposition researchers are using state level FOIA requests, and these requests usually result in a story or two.