Michael Morisy
MuckRock
Cambridge, TAS, Australia
Contact Michael
Discover and connect with journalists and influencers around the world, save time on email research, monitor the news, and more.
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Past articles by Michael:
Submit your nominations for the 2021 Foilies
It’s that time again — we’re now accepting nominations for the Foilies, the annual “anti-awards” program for government agencies that make access to information harder than it needs to be, often in equal parts maddeningly and inadvertently hilarious ways. → Read More
The MuckRock guide to opening police departments with public records
As protests of the killing of George Floyd and other black Americans continue, many communities are looking for answers in how to hold police departments more accountable to the communities they serve. In conjunction with today’s training, we’re putting together a collection of resources on how public records can play a small part in that work. → Read More
Submit your FOIA suggestion and win!
MuckRock is a collaborative news site that gives you the tools to hold the government accountable. → Read More
We’re building new ways to directly fund local journalism with support from the Google News Initiative
Since the launch of MuckRock's crowdfunding tools, over a thousand donors have pitched in over $50,000 to records fees for projects large and small, telling important stories across the country. We're now expanding that program to offer better ongoing support for local journalism with improved ways to reward supporters. → Read More
Release Notes: Check on payment status, public Assignments results, and other improvements
Last week, we pushed some major changes to how we handle payments, now letting you see when a particular check is cashed. We also made a number of improvements to Assignments, including more design flexibility and the ability to make user submissions public. → Read More
In the Grand Rapids area? Join us for the FOIAFest water data hackathon Nov. 5
Interested in big data, water transparency, or just getting a chance to work with great people on important problems? Join us in Grand Rapids on November 5 for the FOIAFest 2019 hackathon, where we focus on important water stories both within the United States and around the world. → Read More
Jennifer 8. Lee joins MuckRock Foundation board
Jennifer 8. Lee has been an informal advisor to MuckRock since the very beginning, so last week we made things official and welcomed the entrepreneur, publisher, producer, journalist, and emoji activist to the MuckRock Foundation board of directors. → Read More
Release Notes: Interested in running your own MuckRock or FOIA Machine? Let us know
We’ve been getting inquiries from organizations interested in running their own version of MuckRock or FOIA Machine, or in helping us update the feature sets of the sites to meet some specific needs. If you’re interested, please get in touch: We’d love to discuss ways to make that happen. → Read More
Release Notes: Improved helpdesk notifications
Last week, we rolled out a couple improvements related to communications, including giving you a helpdesk ticket number when you email in or use the “Get Help” button. We also implemented some changes to help improve onboarding in the future. → Read More
Release Notes: A first glimpse at a new DocumentCloud
Last week, no new features on MuckRock were released, but we did give ONA attendees a first sneak peak at the new DocumentCloud. → Read More
Using FOIA and public databases to track down Department of Defense contracts
We spoke with experts around the country for advice on using the Freedom of Information Act to dig into military contracts. Here are their top tips. → Read More
A whole lot of transparency: MuckRock users file 50,000 requests
MuckRock’s amazing community of FOIA and public records enthusiasts have crossed another milestone: A user recently filed the site’s 50,000th requests, the 9,486th request this year. → Read More
MuckRock welcomes Nabiha Syed, Cori Zarek to board of directors
We are excited to announce that earlier this year Nabiha Syed and Cori Zarek joined MuckRock’s board of directors, becoming the first two board members beyond the organization’s founders and helping us continue to fighting for a more open and accountable democracy. → Read More
MuckRock Release Notes: More transparency in more ways
This past week we've launched an improved composer window, more improvements to our crowdsourcing tool Assignments, and a few API tweaks for those who want to build transparency resources on top of MuckRock. → Read More
Your snow day FOIA inspiration and a chance to chat FOIA
In this week’s FOIA roundup, a great case study of combining public records with other journalistic tools, an important step towards greater Congressional transparency, and a chance to collaborate with your peers, just in time for FOIA Friday. → Read More
Saying goodbye to Sunshine Week
As Sunshine Week draws to a close, some of our favorite projects from the week, including tips on collaboration and some awards you might not want to win. But first, how two reporters helped break news by following up on an old story. → Read More
The JFK assassination records release primer
25 years ago, following the release of Oliver Stone’s JFK, President George H.W. Bush signed the JFK Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 into law. October 26th is the final deadline for the release of almost all records related to the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Here’s what you should know. → Read More
MuckRock Release Notes: Canning spammers, fixing FOIA Machine, and backend upgrades
Last week, we pushed out some much-needed improvements for spam management on the Q&A forums plus set the groundwork for important upgrades to how we file and track requests. → Read More
Knight Foundation and Democracy Fund support MuckRock's mission of improving access to public records
The Knight Foundation and Democracy Fund have announced $440,000 in support of MuckRock's mission of making government more transparent and our democracy more informed. → Read More
How They Did It: Reuters’ Database of Taser Deaths
A team of Reuters reporters, editors and data analysts reviewed the results of hundreds of autopsies and filed hundreds of public records requests involving deaths by Taser in the US. The result? Not only did the investigation catalogue 1,005 deaths, but it ended up building the most comprehensive database ever on Taser-related deaths. → Read More