FOIA as a follow up tool

News organizations write many incomplete stories. There's not enough time to talk to the cops after a minor accident, or the main actor in a story is unavailable for comment, or thousands of tiny delays contribute towards the development of an incomplete image in writing.

One of the sad beauties of the typical FOIA process is that it takes a long time to get an answer even for some simple questions. Turn this into your advantage, if you are writing news; the FOIA request provides the time to produce the follow-up story that fills out the quickly written and incomplete image.