Online Journalist Wages Battle for Freedom of Information "Media Status" with U.S. Department of Defense

An online reporter working for the Latest VotingNews, which has produced the preponderance of all coverage of the Pentagon's now-shelved $22 million SERVE voting project, couldn't get answers to some simple questions about the program's financing, certification, and authorization/cancellation, so he filed a Freedom of Information request asking for everything the Pentagon had on its SERVE project. His request was classified as coming from an "other," not a member of the media, despite the public record of his having produced more material about SERVE than any other media outlet, and, in fact, more than all of them combined. The Pentagon's denial of media status for a member of the online media who'd covered their project to such an extent seemed odd, and inappropriate, so he appealed their decision.

(PRWEB) April 11, 2004 --Marc Strassman, a reporter with web site The Latest VotingNews, and the person responsible for more coverage of the Pentagon's SERVE Internet voting project than any other, was been denied media status by the Department of Defense when he used the Freedom of Information Act to request documents relating to this now-cancelled $22 million program.

Details are available at:

http://63.206.28.66/pages/vn/vn85.html

The rest of the Latest VotingNews articles about SERVE can be found at:

http://63.206.28.66/

One possible reason for the Pentagon's reluctance to grant the Latest VotingNews reporter media status is that doing so would allow, or possibly require, them to waive the large fees they want to charge him in the status they have granted him, "other."

The Defense Department may also want to avoid setting a precedent that would allow other Web-only publications to claim media status and the associated right to get documents under FOIA without charge.

David Maier, FOIA Policy and Appeals Branch, Office of Freedom of Information & Security Review, is the appeals officer in this case. His e-mail address is:

David.Maier@dfoisr.whs.mil

Strassman can be contacted for comment at:

etopia@sbcglobal.net