New Logan Handbooks

The Centre for Investigative Journalism is pleased to announce the launch of the Logan Handbooks: The Hidden Scenario and FOIA without the Lawyer.

Available as e-books through amazon.com

The paperback editions - made available thanks to the Lorana Sullivan Foundation - can be purchased for £2.50 each but must be collected from the CIJ office. Please call: 020 7040 8220 or email: info@tcij.org

The Hidden Scenario by Luuk Sengers and Mark Lee Hunter is the first in a series of handbooks that set out the recent discoveries of the story-based inquiry team.

In FOIA without the Lawyer by Brendan Montague and Lucas Amin guide you through the process of making a request under the FOIA and what to do if your request is refused.

The Hidden Scenario 
By Luuk Sengers and Mark Lee Hunter
The Hidden Scenario focuses on how making a scenario can help you investigate. Part One details the basic principles of constructing a chronology. In Part Two, we move on to the construction of powerful scenes. In particular, we alert the reader to the kinds of dramatic details that must be collected, and why. Part Three shows how scenes lead to sources: people, documents and data that might be available to prove your hypothesis and enrich your narrative. Part Four helps you apply your scenario in the field as a research tool.  

 
"The Hunter-Sengers method codifies for the first time the strategy, structure and techniques necessary to deliver complex and challenging investigations. It is brilliantly intelligent and useably simple. It has completely revolutionised the way I work."
Brendan Montague, Request Initiative
 
The Hidden Scenario: Interview with the Authors
Dan Hind speaks to Luuk Sengers and Mark Lee Hunter, authors of The Hidden Scenario about how their hypothesis theory came about.

FOIA without the Lawyer 
By Brendan Montague and Lucas Amin

The Freedom of Information Act is an excellent journalistic tool that offers access to information held by more than 100,000 public bodies in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In FOIA without the Lawyer, the authors share the methodology they have developed while running The Request Initiative and making requests on behalf of charities, NGOs and campaigning groups. The handbook outlines good practice, which is informed by the authors’ own experience as well as advice it has obtained from its network of lawyers, information officers and public servants.

Buy FOIA without the Lawyer on Amazon

"FOIA has helped to shed light on the MPs' expenses scandal and the Iraq War. It’s no coincidence that Tony Blair said the Act is one of his greatest mistakes. Journalists pursuing public interest stories would be well advised to become first-rate requesters and this guide is a great place to start."
David Leigh, Investigations Editor, The Guardian

"FOIA without the Lawyer is an excellent resource in any investigator’s toolkit in the fight for greater transparency and holding authorities to account. Packed with practical tips and case studies on how to use FOIA, this handbook provides guidance on how to write persuasive cases both as initial requests as well during the appeals process"
Cynthia O'Murchu, Investigative Reporter at the Financial Times

"This is an excellent manual on clever and efficient use of the Freedom of Information Act, an essential tool for every serious journalist. I will highly recommend it to my students and it features on my recommended reading list."
Rosie Waterhouse, Director, MA in Investigative Journalism, City University London

FOIA without the Lawyer: Interview with Brendan Montague
Dan Hind speaks to Brendan Montague one of the authors of FOIA without the Lawyer about his experience of using the Freedom of Information Act.