Ask yourself if any of the information you are looking for might fall under one of those exceptions we mentioned in Section I. Sometimes exceptions will be invoked because the information you are asking for is politically sensitive. Ask yourself: Could the public body try to restrict access to that information by applying one of the exceptions?

TIP! If you think that this might happen, then, when preparing your questions, separate potentially sensitive information from other information that common sense would say should not fall under an exception. Then split your question in two and file the two requests separately.

For example: you want to ask about spending on new equipment for helicopters. You can split this into one question on how much was spent, and a separate request about what it was spent on (e.g.: which types of missiles were purchased).

TIP! Another strategy which journalists can use to avoid refusals is to write or broadcast a story that the request has been filed. This can put pressure on the public institution to process and respond to the request. For example: if your radio station is following a story about a controversy of shortage of medicines in a local hospital. When you file the request for information about the spending on medicines, you might want to announce this on air and also post news about the request on your website. You can update the information as and when you get a response to the request – or if the deadline passes and there is no response you can make this into a news story as well. Doing this has the additional benefit of educating members of the public about the right of access to information and how it works in practice.