Sunshine Week: NPC member Miranda Spivack on accessing information when federal data goes dark

To commemorate Sunshine Week — the annual celebration of access to public information coordinated by the Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Project — the National Press Club Journalism Institute asked experts to share their tips for requesting open records, and these have been published in its daily newsletter for journalists, The Latest.

NPCJI now also is the home of the National Press Club Press Freedom Center.

Here are ways that journalists can access important information as federal data disappears from government websites, by Miranda S. Spivack, author and investigative journalist.

Federal data on rising hunger, long-term trends in maternal and infant mortality, and information on disaster preparation — gone. Freedom of Information Act offices eviscerated across the federal government. 

Just weeks into Trump’s second term, his administration took down thousands of government websites documenting decades worth of data on public health, education, criminal justice and civil rights.

Obtaining various types of information the federal government — which has never been easy — is now nearly an impossible task.

As we commemorate this year’s Sunshine Week — an annual celebration of government transparency — it’s important to highlight other ways journalists are hunting down data to inform the public on why it matters that they have access to this information at the local, state, and federal levels.

Anyone interested in preserving First Amendment rights to assemble, petition the government, speak freely, practice religion, and protect a free press needs to explain to their neighbors why they should care about disappearing data. Start at the local level, where your community’s health department and public schools are affected — and keep pushing at the state capital and in Washington, D.C. 

Here are a few ways journalists and members of the public can gain access to important information amid disappearing federal datasets:

• Ask your local and state governments for a list of data related to health, schools, taxes, the environment, airport safety, and infrastructure that they often report to federal agencies. Then ask them how you can access it and whether it is online somewhere or if you need to file a public records request.
• Ask local and state governments for a list of data that they may still be receiving from the federal government but aren’t being publicly posted by the feds — nutrition, vaccination info, infrastructure, and weather information are some examples. Ask the local and state governments where they are keeping that data from the federal government and how you can get access to it.
• Several non-government organizations are trying to rescue government data. Explore and bookmark the Data Rescue Project, the Data.gov archive, Internet Archive, Safeguarding Research, and this group of so-called Data Hoarders on Reddit.

Want to participate in data saving or know someone who does? MuckRock, a non-profit collaborative news site, has compiled a list of resources and ways to get involved here.

Miranda S. Spivack is the author of “Backroom Deals in Our Backyards: How Government Secrecy Harms Our Communities and the Local Heroes Fighting Back”(The New Press 2025). She is vice president of the D.C Open Government Coalition. You can reach her at [email protected] and at www.mirandaspivack.com.