TBI now charges media for background files
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation this month began charging journalists $29 to provide criminal background checks for news reporting, a move the agency said was driven by the state budget crunch.
TBI'S media office, which collects information for reporters, previously provided reports on a person's statewide criminal history to news outlets for free. TBI spokesperson Josh Devine said the agency changed its policy this year after a budget review ordered by the governor.
Devine said his office received an average of about 15 criminal background requests from journalists each week. He estimated they each took about 30 minutes to pull from a statewide database and redact.
Reporters use the background checks, which include a person's complete criminal history in Tennessee, to collect information about alleged crimes and suspects in real time. Previous checks shaped early coverage of Travis Reinking, the man suspected in the 2018 Waffle House shooting, among others.
Members of the public can order the criminal history reports for $29, in line with state law. Typical public requests are made by landlords seeking tenants or employers vetting job applicants.
It is a sizable revenue source — the agency collected $5.4 million in fees during the 2019 fiscal year, Devine said. He said waiving the fee for journalists led to “more than $22,000 in estimated lost revenue annually.”
Devine said the media was exempted from the cost “as a courtesy.” The new policy brought media requests in line with the others.
“At the end of the day this is an issue of equality, and we wanted to make sure we were treating people equally across the board,” Devine said. “We were looking at the amount of free work that we were giving away and it just didn't make sense.”
But open records advocate Deborah Fisher said the added fee for reporters could “reduce the flow of information” to the public, with media organizations picking and choosing when to pay the fee.
Fisher, the executive director of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, said that outcome was not in line with the TBI'S decision to hire multiple information officers tasked with working to answer reporters' questions.
“State agencies have people who specialize in media relations who try to get information to the media specifically because they want accurate information out there,” Fisher said. “If TBI really wants to say, ‘We're not going to answer a news media question unless they give us $29,' I think that's strange.”
In cases of major breaking news, like the Waffle House shooting that killed four people, the TBI could charge several news organizations to provide the same report multiple times.
“How is that right?” Fisher said. After an early version of this story published, Devine submitted an emailed response that elaborated on the agency's reasoning. He said the TBI received “feedback” after announcing the change to newsrooms, and that some exceptions might be made on a case-bycase basis.
“We acknowledge there may be instances involving immediate public safety in which releasing an individual's criminal history is both relevant and warranted,” Devine said. “That determination will be at the discretion of the Director.”
Gov. Bill Lee took office in 2019 promising a “complete overhaul” of the state's open records and meetings laws “to make government more transparent.” Spokespeople for his administration have called it an ongoing goal.
The governor has yet to push any major changes to expand access to public records.
Reach Adam Tamburin at 615-7265986 and atamburin@tennessean.com. Follow on Twitter @tamburintweets.