About the Author
Heather Brooke is a journalist and writer living in London. She is the author of ‘Your Right to Know’ (Pluto Press, University of Michigan Press), a citizens’ guide to using the Freedom of Information Act and accessing official information. Heather was runner-up for the inaugural Paul Foot Award for investigative journalism and her project ‘Justice by postcode’ for The Times was one of the first examples of computer-assisted reporting in the UK. She is a visiting fellow at City University’s Department of Journalism teaching students about FOI and how to analyse electronic data. She has worked as a consultant for several documentaries for Channel 4 television, investigating such topics as Tesco loyalty cards, the DNA database and surveillance technology.
Heather is the UK project director of the Open Society Justice Initiative’s anti-corruption survey and she is monitoring the accountability of three large public-sector projects: the London 2012 Olympics, the NHS Programme for IT and the oil extraction industry. Already, several of her findings have led to front-page news stories.
Heather has been interviewed on a number of radio and television shows and she writes articles for The Times, Sunday Times, Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Independent, Evening Standard, New Statesman and other national magazines. She has spoken at conferences hosted by the House of Commons, Lexis Nexis, British and Irish Law Librarians Joint Study Institute, the Society of Editors and the Association of Chief Police Officers.
Heather previously worked at the BBC as an assistant publicist in International Television; a copywriter and, for BBC magazines, a freelance editor, writer and subeditor. Before moving to Britain, she worked in the United States as a newspaper reporter covering state government and criminal justice. For the Spokesman-Review in Washington state, she used the state FOI law to uncover politicians’ misuse of public funds for travel and personal election campaigning. In South Carolina for the Spartanburg Herald-Journal she uncovered flaws in the state’s forensic crime lab and exposed dangerous practices in funeral homes. Both investigations resulted in changes to state law.
Heather is available for training and research on topics related to using the Freedom of Information Act, Environmental Information Regulations and other access laws. She currently teaches the FOIA and investigative journalism course for the National Union of Journalists. She has trained journalists at The Guardian, Financial Times, Independent, Trinity Mirror newspapers, BBC News and BBC World Service.
