Every public records request Statewide Safety files includes a media status assertion. We identify ourselves as a digital news organization, we describe our publishing history and audience, and we request the fee treatment and processing priority that media requesters are entitled to under applicable law.

Some agencies are familiar with this. Others are not. For those that are not, it can seem like a technicality — a box being checked. It is not a technicality. It is one of the most substantive distinctions in public records law, and understanding it is essential to understanding why our work matters and how it operates.

The Three Requester Categories

Under the federal Freedom of Information Act and most state equivalents, records requesters fall into one of three categories, each with different fee structures and sometimes different processing priorities:

Commercial requesters pay the highest fees — search, duplication, and review costs. They receive no fee waivers and no expedited processing as a matter of right. Commercial entities seeking records for resale or direct commercial use fall here.

Media and educational requesters receive the most favorable treatment. Under federal FOIA, media requesters pay only duplication fees — search and review are waived. Many states go further and waive all fees for media requesters who can demonstrate public interest. In Ohio and several other states, media requesters are entitled to expedited processing — jumping the queue ahead of standard requests.

All other requesters — private citizens, researchers, advocates — fall in the middle. They pay search and duplication fees, with waivers available in some circumstances.

Where Statewide Safety Asserts Media Status

  • Federal FOIA — 5 U.S.C. § 552 — search fees waived, duplication only
  • Florida § 119 — Government-in-the-Sunshine Law
  • Texas Public Information Act — 50% fee reduction available
  • Ohio Public Records Act — expedited processing + fee waivers
  • Georgia Open Records Act — fee waivers available
  • California Public Records Act
  • Washington State Public Records Act
  • Connecticut Freedom of Information Act
  • Rhode Island Access to Public Records Act
  • Maryland Public Information Act
  • 30+ additional state statutes

What Makes an Organization "Media"?

The definition varies by jurisdiction, but the core standard under federal FOIA and most state equivalents comes down to two questions: Does the requester gather information in the public interest? And does the requester have a demonstrated ability to disseminate that information to the public?

Statewide Safety answers both clearly. We gather body camera footage through public records requests — that is the gathering function. We publish that footage to a YouTube channel with over 100,000 subscribers and 110 million total views — that is the dissemination function, documented and verifiable by any agency that cares to look.

"The law does not require that journalism look like it did in 1975. Digital media organizations with documented public audiences are exactly what FOIA's media category was designed to protect."

Courts and agencies reviewing media status claims have consistently held that the medium of publication is irrelevant — what matters is function, not format. A YouTube channel that gathers records in the public interest and distributes the results to a hundred thousand subscribers is performing the same function as a newspaper that prints stories about those same records. The law recognizes that.

Why It Matters Practically

The practical consequences of media status vary by state, but they are real and they compound over time. For an organization like Statewide Safety that files hundreds of requests per year across dozens of jurisdictions, the difference between commercial and media fee treatment can mean thousands of dollars annually. Fee waivers are not a courtesy — they are a recognition that the public, not the requester, is the ultimate beneficiary of the disclosure.

Expedited processing matters for a different reason. Body camera footage documents incidents that are often newsworthy precisely because they are recent. A request that takes six months to process produces footage of historical interest. A request that is expedited — as Ohio law allows for media requesters — produces footage while the incident is still relevant to the community that experienced it.

We assert media status in every request we file because it is accurate, because it is legally meaningful, and because it is one of the tools the law provides to organizations doing exactly this kind of work. Agencies that have questions about our status are welcome to reach out to our Records Division at [email protected]. We are happy to provide documentation of our organization, our publishing history, and our audience metrics to any agency reviewing a fee waiver or expedited processing determination.