This book is a definitive guide to using Right to Information (RTI) or Freedom of Information (FOI) or Access to Information (ATI) for journalists, journalism students, social activists, researchers and concerned citizens. In the age of fake news, the smart quip on Twitter, the cheap shot, the put-down, the hyperbolic rant that passes for reportage, this book shows how effective use of the RTI can be a bedrock for investigative journalism and for speaking truth to power.

The volume:

• Presents a comprehensive history of transparency laws across the world
• Includes pioneering stories from the field that map how ideas were conceived, how questions were framed, how RTI applications were filed, how those were followed up, how the information was processed into a news story and what their impact was
• Shows how to write stories beyond the classical inverted pyramid—who, why, what, where, when and how
• Lists attempts to make the laws ineffective

Written by one of the pioneers in the field, this volume will be an indispensable reading for scholars and researchers in political science, governance, law and legal studies, democracy, public policy, social change and media studies. It will also immensely interest the everyday reader who wants to learn more about RTI and activism.

Shyamlal Yadav is one of the pioneers of the effective use of RTI for investigative reporting. A part of Investigative Team of The Indian Express, he is also a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), Washington DC. He has been part of cross-border investigations like Paradise Papers, FinCEN Files, Pandora Papers, Uber Files, Hidden Treasures and Cyprus Confidential. His work on polluted rivers Streams of Filth (India Today, December 28, 2009) was selected by UNESCO as one of the 20 best investigative reports. His reporting like foreign travel of public servants, MPs appointing their relatives as their personal assistants, bank staff putting their own money in Jan Dhan accounts, stolen Indian antiquities, fake research journals and honorary doctorates being conferred to people in power and more has made a huge impact. He is the only two-time winner of the Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism in Investigative Reporting category, and also a two-time winner of Asian College of Journalism (ACJ) Award for Investigative Journalism. Shyamlal has been awarded with the Lorenzo Natalie Journalism Prize, Developing Asia Journalism Award, National RTI Award and Statesman Rural Reporting Award among others. He has addressed conferences at a range of platforms including Columbia University; London University; and European, Asian and global Investigative Journalism conferences at different parts of the world and workshops organised for journalists in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Brazil. He is author of another book, At The Heart Of Power: The Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh (Rupa, 2024). Besides his investigative work, he keeps writing on other political and social issues.