Serving the public interest? A computational analysis of the topics of UK national newspaper coverage using Freedom of Information (FOI) requests between 2005 and 2023

The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000 was enacted in the United Kingdom (UK) to improve government transparency and accountability. Requesting government information through FOI and using it in coverage support news media's watchdog role and the Act's full potential. However, the public interest served depends on the news story topics journalists pursue. This article employs Latent Dirichlet Allocation topic modelling and n-gram analysis to map the topics of 12,132 FOI news stories published by 10 UK national newspapers (and Sunday versions, if any) between 2005 and 2023. Despite fluctuations, FOI coverage increased overall, consistently addressing topics, such as “government and markets,” “NHS problems,” and “public funds and council spending issues,” shaping public agendas, and holding power accountable. Broadsheets and tabloids differed and overlaped in topics, while their political leanings made less difference. Although serving the public interest, some topics were sensational, such as “sexual crimes against children,” with some key areas like internal government communications and decision-making underrepresented. This research demonstrates FOI's key role in political communication, showing its potential to reform the political system and shape the relationship between the government, politicians, and news media. However, a balance is needed between fulfilling a watchdog role and avoiding sensationalism.