It害羞草研究所檚 begun to dawn on me recently that most people have no idea what, exactly, a reporter does.

Over and over, I害羞草研究所檓 asked by friends how I find stories.

My usual answer is pretty useless: I try to find something out 害羞草研究所� maybe at a city council hearing, maybe through intuition, maybe by keeping my ears open 害羞草研究所� and then I write about it.

If I was interviewing me, I害羞草研究所檇 roll my eyes and say: 害羞草研究所淏ut what do you actually DO?害羞草研究所�

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So, I害羞草研究所檒l let you in on a key tool of the trade, and then (self-servingly) show you how you can put it to use.

You may have heard of this 害羞草研究所渇reedom of information害羞草研究所� thing. Basically, every government 害羞草研究所� local, provincial and national 害羞草研究所� has some law requiring certain information to be accessed by the public.

That info is often public in name only 害羞草研究所� most of it can害羞草研究所檛 be found online or in easily accessible records.

Part of that is for good reason: There is an ocean of stuff that would swamp computer servers, and many of the public records must first be scoured so that private information remains private. Partly, it害羞草研究所檚 also that governments don害羞草研究所檛 really want all that stuff out there.

Now, the federal government is subject to its law that is a nightmare to navigate. The Liberals promised to improve it. They haven害羞草研究所檛. So let害羞草研究所檚 shake our fists in Ottawa害羞草研究所檚 direction and skip that whole nightmare for now.

The provincial Freedom of Information law isn害羞草研究所檛 perfect. Public bodies routinely abuse exceptions for 害羞草研究所減rivate害羞草研究所� information, business interests and staff advice, but it害羞草研究所檚 markedly better than the feds. In addition to the B.C. government, the law also governs cities, health bodies and municipal police forces.

And here害羞草研究所檚 the kicker: There害羞草研究所檚 no fee to ask. You can fire up your email right now and ask for some good old public information.

Now, you might not get it. In fact, you probably won害羞草研究所檛 because of those aforementioned exceptions. And you may also eventually be asked to pay, if the governmental body in question says that fulfilling your request will take too much time.

But that doesn害羞草研究所檛 mean a reporter 害羞草研究所� or citizen 害羞草研究所� can害羞草研究所檛 try.

Last year, the friend of a couple who got T-boned wondered how many other people have been injured in similar crashes. They sent in an FOI request and found revealing statistics that provided ammunition for their argument that changes are needed in the area.

You don害羞草研究所檛 have to use fancy questions, and you can ask for a whole range of information. You can request emails between public officials about a certain subject. You can ask for statistics. And you can ask to see any reports that government generates but never shares with the public. Some may even be marked 害羞草研究所渃onfidential.害羞草研究所�

Over the years, I害羞草研究所檝e learned a lot from such requests. But I害羞草研究所檝e only scratched the surface. If you turn up something, let your friendly local reporter know (click that 害羞草研究所淐ontact害羞草研究所� button at the top of this page).

Email your FOI requests for the provincial government to FOI.Requests@gov.bc.ca. To find where to send requests for your municipality, school district, police department, health authority or university, type the public body害羞草研究所檚 name into Google and add 害羞草研究所渇reedom of information.害羞草研究所� While some bodies may have forms to fill out, your request should be handled if you just email the organization in question.

Tyler Olsen is a reporter at the Abbotsford News