Itsa国际传媒檚 begun to dawn on me recently that most people have no idea what, exactly, a reporter does.

Over and over, Isa国际传媒檓 asked by friends how I find stories.

My usual answer is pretty useless: I try to find something out sa国际传媒� maybe at a city council hearing, maybe through intuition, maybe by keeping my ears open sa国际传媒� and then I write about it.

If I was interviewing me, Isa国际传媒檇 roll my eyes and say: sa国际传媒淏ut what do you actually DO?sa国际传媒�

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So, Isa国际传媒檒l let you in on a key tool of the trade, and then (self-servingly) show you how you can put it to use.

You may have heard of this sa国际传媒渇reedom of informationsa国际传媒� thing. Basically, every government sa国际传媒� local, provincial and national sa国际传媒� has some law requiring certain information to be accessed by the public.

That info is often public in name only sa国际传媒� most of it cansa国际传媒檛 be found online or in easily accessible records.

Part of that is for good reason: There is an ocean of stuff that would swamp computer servers, and many of the public records must first be scoured so that private information remains private. Partly, itsa国际传媒檚 also that governments donsa国际传媒檛 really want all that stuff out there.

Now, the federal government is subject to its law that is a nightmare to navigate. The Liberals promised to improve it. They havensa国际传媒檛. So letsa国际传媒檚 shake our fists in Ottawasa国际传媒檚 direction and skip that whole nightmare for now.

The provincial Freedom of Information law isnsa国际传媒檛 perfect. Public bodies routinely abuse exceptions for sa国际传媒減rivatesa国际传媒� information, business interests and staff advice, but itsa国际传媒檚 markedly better than the feds. In addition to the B.C. government, the law also governs cities, health bodies and municipal police forces.

And heresa国际传媒檚 the kicker: Theresa国际传媒檚 no fee to ask. You can fire up your email right now and ask for some good old public information.

Now, you might not get it. In fact, you probably wonsa国际传媒檛 because of those aforementioned exceptions. And you may also eventually be asked to pay, if the governmental body in question says that fulfilling your request will take too much time.

But that doesnsa国际传媒檛 mean a reporter sa国际传媒� or citizen sa国际传媒� cansa国际传媒檛 try.

Last year, the friend of a couple who got T-boned wondered how many other people have been injured in similar crashes. They sent in an FOI request and found revealing statistics that provided ammunition for their argument that changes are needed in the area.

You donsa国际传媒檛 have to use fancy questions, and you can ask for a whole range of information. You can request emails between public officials about a certain subject. You can ask for statistics. And you can ask to see any reports that government generates but never shares with the public. Some may even be marked sa国际传媒渃onfidential.sa国际传媒�

Over the years, Isa国际传媒檝e learned a lot from such requests. But Isa国际传媒檝e only scratched the surface. If you turn up something, let your friendly local reporter know (click that sa国际传媒淐ontactsa国际传媒� button at the top of this page).

Email your FOI requests for the provincial government to FOI.Requests@gov.bc.ca. To find where to send requests for your municipality, school district, police department, health authority or university, type the public bodysa国际传媒檚 name into Google and add sa国际传媒渇reedom of information.sa国际传媒� While some bodies may have forms to fill out, your request should be handled if you just email the organization in question.

Tyler Olsen is a reporter at the Abbotsford News