www.montereycountynow.com MARCH 19-25, 2026 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 19 For the last six years, a class of journalism students at the University of Nevada, Reno, has kicked off each semester by filing their first Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. The assignment: Request copies of complaints sent to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) about their favorite TV show, a local radio station, or a major broadcast event, such as the Grammys or the Super Bowl halftime show. The students are learning that the federal government and every state have laws establishing the public’s right to request and receive public records. It’s a bedrock principle of democracy: If a government belongs to the people, so do its documents. In the past, the FCC always provided records within a few weeks, if not days. But that changed in September when students requested consumer complaints filed against NPR and PBS stations to see if there was anything at all to merit defunding public media. Six months later—crickets. Now the students are learning to persevere even when public officials demonstrate an utter disdain for transparency. And The Foilies are here for it. Established in 2015, The Foilies are an annual project by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and MuckRock to recognize the agencies, officials and contractors that thwart the public’s right to know. We give out these tongue-in-cheek “awards” during Sunshine Week (March 15-21), a collective effort by media and advocacy organizations to highlight the importance of open government. This year, we’ve got a few “winners” whose behavior defies belief. But it’s not all negative. Those same Reno students are also assigned to file public records requests for restaurant health inspections. This semester, the records started to show up in their inboxes within 20 minutes. If every agency followed Northern Nevada Public Health’s example, we could sunset this Sunshine Week project. THE LOVE LETTERS AWARD Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Last spring, the office of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott withheld communications between himself and one of the state’s most powerful business figures, Elon Musk. The office claimed that the communications were exempt from public records law because they would reveal confidential legal and policy discussions, including how the state entices private companies to do business in Texas, or “intimate and embarrassing” information. The claims were unelaborated boilerplate language based on exemptions in Texas’ public records law. But if you’re wondering what “intimate” and “embarrassing” exchanges Abbott and Musk shared over email, you may be waiting a while. Last fall, the Office of the Texas Attorney General ordered Abbott’s office to release nearly 1,400 pages of communications between Abbott and Musk. About 1,200 of those pages were fully redacted–just sheets of gray obscuration. The records that were released don’t reveal much more than an invitation to a happy hour or a reminder about the next SpaceX launch. THE SHADY SCREENSHOT AWARD U.S. Department of Homeland Security The Department of Homeland Security’s banner year of lawlessness included backsliding on its transparency obligations. In response to a request from the nonprofit American Oversight, DHS stated that it was no longer automatically archiving text messages sent between officials. The department clarified that it had a new, and much worse, records retention policy. Instead of archiving officials’ text messages as the agency had done before, DHS now asks officials to take screenshots of any text messages conducting government business on their work phones. It’s hard to see the change as anything more than a giant middle finger to the public, especially because the Federal Records Act requires agencies to retain all records officials create while conducting their public duties, regardless of format. We won’t hold our breath waiting on DHS officials to dutifully press the volume and power button on their phones to record every text message they send and receive. THE DISCARDMENT OF GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY AWARD DOGE As the Trump administration took over last year, there was a looming threat over government transparency: the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, also known as DOGE. Billionaire Elon Musk, soon to be the de facto leader of DOGE, proudly claimed “there should be no need for FOIA requests” and “all government The 2026 Foilies Awards recognize the worst in government transparency. By the Electronic Frontier Foundation and MuckRock Illustrations by Shelby Criswell NOTHING TO SEE HERE The Taunton, Massachusetts Police Department said it would take 20,000 hours to process the request, at $86.57 an hour.
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