UNFINISHED BUSINESS - THOSE FOIA BLUES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00587R000100040058-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 8, 2011
• Sequence Number: 58
• Publication Date: April 1, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/03/08: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100040058-6
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COLUMBIA JOURNALISM REVIEW
March/April 1985
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TO THE REVIEW:
Steve Weinberg's "Trashing the FOIA"
(CSR, January/February) must have produced
a few smiles from journalists who read the
response Ted Gup of The Washington Post
received from the CIA's Larry Strawderman.
who apologized for a lengthy delay in pro-
cessing Gup's request for agency documents.
Ditto, almost word for word, the re-
sponse I received from Mr. Strawderman a
couple of years ago after we had exchanged
letters for about a year. The agency finally
coughed up two pages of "sanitized" (one
of my favorite FOI words) documents at a
total cost of a little over 5400.
Thank God. I was working for a news
organization - the Mansfield, Ohio, News
Journal - which has stamina and exercises
a strong commitment to good journalism.
There are some 40,000-circulation dailies
that would balk at such costs and abandon
the FOI as one avenue in their newsgath-
ering effort.
I second Weinberg's call for those of us
in the news business to persuade Congress
that the FOIA is a vital tool for informing
the public. I think it is important to remember
that the FOIA is not an exclusive playground
for journalists. The intent of the statute is to
make government records and information
readily accessible to the public -journalists
and nonjournalists alike.
I would also like to see some kind of work-
able advocacy program put in place to mon-
itor compliance with the law. It would be
great to have someone in government offices
looking over the shoulders of the sanitizers,
making sure that my request is being met with
the fullest possible disclosure.
JIM UNDERWOOD
Statehouse bureau chief
Horvitz Newspapers. Inc.
Columbus, Ohio
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/03/08: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100040058-6