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I’m deeply amazed at how much help and support he got for free from a bunch of people from one of the most important (and expensive) laboratories in the world
by reaperducer 4y ago
I’m deeply amazed at how much help and support he got for free from a bunch of people from one of the most important (and expensive) laboratories in the world
As a former journalist, it truly is amazing the amount of free information that comes out of America's government, and the vast number of truly helpful people who work there.
I can't count the number of times I didn't understand something I read in a federal document, and was able to pick up the phone and within 15 minutes or so be in touch either with the person who wrote it, or someone who knew the topic intimately. Very often, they would follow-up with stacks of documentation by mail.
And I'm not talking about conversing with public relations people or media people or others who are paid to talk to the media. But regular federal staffers who really just wanted to make sure I understood things.
The Congressional Budget Office, and the General Services Administration stick in my memory as being especially helpful.
Sadly, it's the bad bureaucrats who get all the notoriety, and state/local offices have become markedly worse over recent years, as budgets have been cut and the Freedom of Information Act backfired, turning everything into a firewalled process. But there are still plenty of people out there who remember that every... single... thing... the federal government produces is the property of the people, which is why it's illegal for a federal agency to assert copyright over anything it created with tax dollars.
Again, state and local governments routinely put © notices on everything, as if they weren't paid for with public money for the good of the public.
- low_tech_love 4y agoExactly. The amazing thing about America is how these people just pop up spontaneously. They get a salary just like we do but for some reason some (many?) of them just have this spark to go further. I love that you mentioned actually talking to people to solve problems. In the Nordic countries it feels like every minute of every person is worth a million euros. Good luck justifying that extra question or two.
- wpietri 4y agoFor what it's worth, I've also met FOIA people who are very excited by the mission of FOIA. So many government employees are really there for the mission of it! They rarely make the news, but my esteem for government workers has mainly grown the more contact I've had with them.
- astrange 4y agoI always wonder where they find people to give quotes in response to events in news articles. Obviously in politics news it's usually used for evil - like the NYTimes or local TV stations are both famous for quoting a man on the street who's just a concerned citizen, and then you look their name up and they're a lobbyist or something. But in science news you often see expert X releasing a paper and then someone from university Y, who wasn't involved and wasn't a reviewer, quoted reacting to it. Where does the journalist find them?
- Aaron2222 4y agoCan't comment for America, but in New Zealand most of our universities ether have an opt-in media expertise database, encourage browsing through the normal staff profiles to find someone, or encourage media to get in touch with a central point of contact to find someone to comment.