CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts: When what was expected to be a small protest in Cairo’s Tahrir Square became massive and nationwide, journalists inside and outside Egypt were unprepared.

“No one anticipated January 25th,” said former director general of the Al Jazeera news network Wadah Khanfar at a February 24 talk at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on how social media used during protests in Cairo’s Tahrir Square have permanently changed the journalism industry.

“Al Jazeera was overwhelmed,” Khanfar said. “We had maybe three to four correspondents on the ground. There was no way we could cover a movement that size.”

But, even as former President Hosni Mubarak threw journalists out of the country, a rich amount of material from the street began coming in over the Internet via Facebook and Twitter. Much of it, most of it—photos, videos, tweeted accounts—began to hit the Internet in almost real-time from participants, said Mohamed Nanabhay, head of Al Jazeera English Online, also on the forum’s panel.

Al Jazeera editors initially worried about how to authenticate the visual and verbal accounts suddenly pouring in, but decided the importance of the story in the face of their limited resources justified airing such citizen reports. Read More

When journalists are submitting Freedom of Information (FOI) requests they will often be keen to get a response as soon as possible, so it is key for the reporter to ensure their request is as good as it can be to avoid any delays.

This guide brings together advice from two journalists with extensive experience in requesting data under the FOI Act, as well as an FOI officer who will offer some pointers from the perspective of the person handling the request.

First let's remind ourselves of the legislation. The Freedom of Information Act 2000 has been in force since 2005, and in a nutshell sets out the "general right of access to information held by public authorities".

The Act goes into detail about the rights of the individual, and the requirements of public authorities when it comes to the requested disclosure of information, as well as the 23 exemptions which can mean disclosure being refused. There is also a helpful FAQ on the Act on the Information Commissioner's Office website.

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