Tag Archives: wobbing

AUDIO: Using European information laws for environmental investigations: #Dataharvest13

This year’s Data Harvest festival – #dataharvest13 – featured a number of speakers involved in environmental investigations. We were there to record some fascinating speakers. Continue reading

Using FOI across borders

Wobbing Europe reports on how one journalist used Freedom of Information (FOI) laws in another country to obtain information that led to a government minister's resignation:

"During a critical phase in their reporting Dahlin and Geist asked for access from the Swedish authorities in order to find out if, and when, the Nordic ministers had informed each other on how to interpret the convention.
"?We took a chance, and got a positive cultural chock. The Swedish ministry excused for not being able to answer immediately and then returned the day after. They never asked us who we were or our purpose,? Anton Gleist, says and adds:
"?Later we found out that the Swedes were given the factual information from the Danish ministry and then passed it on to us. But the Danes only came up with an answer weeks later. It was groteque.?
"A bit later also the Norwegians and the Finns provided the Danish reporters with information they were not given at home."
"The reporters could thus demonstrate that the Danish minister had known how differently the other Nordic countries interpreted the very same convention, more than a year before she confessed to a committee at the Danish parliament."

New mailing list for FOI and data journalists in Europe

Brigitte Alfter, a specialist in using FOI laws across Europe (often called ‘wobbing’) has emailed about a new mailing list on the topic. 

Established via the Wobbing.eu network, she says: 

“The idea is to share information, experience, developments, new stories, get advice from colleagues and give advice to others.
 
“The list was installed after a meeting in May in Brussels, where we founded a European Data Journalism Network including CAR pioneers, the Farmsubsidy team, FOI journalists and programmers.”
 

You can sign up and contribute at http://www.wobbing.eu/page/network