Readers at the FOI Roundtables said they want newspapers to educate them. They said they value articles that show how to obtain public records.

At the Arizona FOI Roundtable, a retired home builder spoke about the enormous difficulty he encounters when he tries to find a public employee to help him with a records request. "If even the press has trouble getting information," he said, "I don't have a chance." He suggested that newspapers publish names, e-mail addresses and phone numbers of public information officers. Following up on his idea, The Arizona Republic is examining ways to offer this contact information to readers on line and in print.

Cover of book prepared by Ohio attorney general for Dayton Daily News readers.

At other FOI Roundtables, readers said they find it helpful when newspapers run Q & A boxes that answer such basic questions about FOI as: What is a public record? Can it be electronic or does it have to be paper? Do I need to fill out a special form if I want to see a document?

Two of the papers that held FOI Roundtables, the Times Union of Albany and the Dayton Daily News, also invited interested readers to attend a Q & A workshop with a state official who explained FOI laws. These sessions were extremely well attended. The Dayton paper turned away an overflow crowd. At both newspapers, readers said they were confused by responses to their FOI requests. A woman in Ohio said she gave up trying to obtain records at a state agency when she was told she must pay time and a half for however long it would take a state employee to fill her request. Not true, the state attorney said. The agency is allowed to charge only for the cost of photocopies.

Privacy was also a topic of concern at each FOI Roundtable.

"I don't want people to know too much about me," said an accountant who produces a television show on a public access channel. Another audience member said, "I don't mind my name being on a list – I just don't want it published. If you want to go to the courthouse and look it up, please feel free. But why should I have it published in front of everyone?"

Journalists said they understood citizens' concerns about security and identity theft. The editor of the Dayton Daily News, Jeff Bruce, told readers how he happened to find a picture of his house on the county's web site. "It showed not only my address, but also a map of how to get to my house," he said. "I don't really object to that being part of the public record, but it was a little disquieting to realize just how quickly anyone could access it on the Internet."

The FOI Roundtable conversation in Dayton looked at how the paper can find a balance between the public's right to know and an individual's right to privacy. The Arizona papers asked their readers when an individual's right to privacy trumps the public's right to know.

Readers seemed to fall into three camps when they discussed the newspaper's use of public records.

• Some readers were comfortable with the government having information about them, but did not want newspapers to have access to it.

• Other readers said that even if newspapers have access to government records, they should not publish such information.

• Still other readers said everyone is entitled to government information. They want government agencies to make records available to citizens and to the press.

In Delaware, a state where the Legislature is exempt from the Freedom of Information Act and the Open Meetings Law, the press received advice from panelists who work in government. The key to obtaining government records, they said, is to be courteous.

"There's so much gray area in the law," said the chief of staff to a former governor. "Frankly it behooves you to treat public officials with respect."

Similarly, a senior state employee proposed fence-mending. "When something is wrong in the paper, it would be nice if an editor would call us and say, 'Sorry,' " he noted.

A state senator recommended that The News Journal make its FOI Roundtable the first in a series of dialogues with government officials.

And a former Cabinet secretary turned the tables. He said it would help readers if the newspaper were transparent about its process — inviting outsiders in to gain an understanding of how stories are written, who does what to an article and how headlines land on top of stories.

The advice to the press by a state official was very different in Albany, where readers and journalists complained of long delays by state agencies that receive FOI requests. The executive director of New York's Committee on Open Government said that when government stonewalls on FOI requests, journalists should think about making stonewalling the story. "I think it's necessary to take steps to embarrass the government," he told reporters. "I don't think you guys are tough enough on government."