Obama gets early copy of Game of Thrones; someone files FOIA request for it

quote:

---

Refinery29 author Vanessa Golembewski noticed a report about a Game of Thrones press event in which a showrunner admitted that Obama was given a DVD screener copy. That set off a light bulb in her head: "If the president—and by extension, our government—is in possession of a file, surely that file is subject to my request to see it as a US citizen," she wrote.

As a result, last Friday Golembewski filed what may very well be the first Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request specifically for a film or TV series delivered to the Oval Office. The author admitted she'd never filed an FOIA request before, which might explain her tongue-in-cheek responses to various prompts, including a diatribe about college loans and an "expedited" request chosen because "Jon Snow's life is very much in question."

Unfortunately for Golembewski, her efforts are probably for naught. Obama's office repealed the Office of Administration's duty to respond to FOIA requests in 2015, which appears to include such interactions as receipt of media. That decision came on the heels of a 2009 Federal court ruling in favor of the Office of Administration, which declared that the office "performs only operational and administrative tasks in support of the President and his staff and therefore, under our precedent, lacks substantial independent authority" that would require FOIA oversight. Scott Hodes, an attorney at law and author of the FOIA Blog, agreed in an e-mail interview with Ars that this episode isn't eligible for an FOIA request.

---