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Freedom of Information Blockage
148/Media Monitor
21/11/05: The Freedom of Information Act, fully operative since January 2005, is under pressure as a result of a mounting backlog of appeals against government secrecy. The Information Commissioner, Richard Thomas, has the job of resolving complaints but three quarters of the appeals lodged since January against refusals to supply information remain unresolved. The Commissioner’s staff has been deluged with 1,642 appeals in the past six months and the number is growing at the rate of five a day. There are 28 full-time staff and five part-time staff.
It appears that the soaring number of appeals is partly due to the obstacles placed in front of requests by the Central Clearing House (CCH), a unit within the Department for Constitutional Affairs, which has adopted obstructive tactics. Its role is to ensure consistency across Whitehall and other government agencies in dealing with FoI requests, but it has published guidelines to civil servants on how to block requests that ask only if a piece of information exists.
The CCH document gives a flavour of the obstructive approach. It advises officials to consider whether they can use ‘the principle of neither confirm or deny’ to bat away an application for information: ‘Whether information is, or is not, held is in itself information and that confirmation of this fact may be damaging to the public interest. For a pubic authority to confirm or deny if it holds information is a matter which always requires careful consideration.’
Whitehall departments have also been told to refuse a request from the Campaign for Freedom of Information about the number of FoI appeals they were dealing with.
It seems that the culture of secrecy is still alive and thriving in Whitehall.
Last modified: Monday, November 21, 2005
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Events & Announcements
World Press Freedom Day
More reporters are currently imprisoned in Turkey than in any other country in the world. Only a matter of weeks ago lawyers failed to persuade a Turkish court to release a 76-year-old journalist from a Turkish internet news station.
World Press Freedom Day on Friday May 3, 2013 is being marked in Britain by a rally to highlight the dangers facing journalists in Turkey and in this podcast, Nicholas Jones speaks to Barry White, Organiser at the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, and Sam Bamford, the TUC's policy officer for Eastern Europe and Africa about the importance of a campaign to highlight international press freedom.
The World Press Freedom Day rally is being staged by the National Union of Journalists at the NUJ head office, Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1 on Thursday May 2, 6pm-8pm.
DATELINE: 27/4/13
UK launch of EU media campaign
DATELINE: 13/3/13
The UK launch of a 'European Citizens' Initiative' calling for EU rules against concentration of media power will take place on Thursday March 21 from 11:00am – 12:30pm in Committee Room 4A at the House of Lords, London. Guest speakers will include actor and activist Hugh Grant (pictured), media consultant Claire Enders, Professor Steven Barnett, Barry McCall (President of the NUJ) and Marc Gruber (Director of the European Federation of Journalists).
A European Citizens' Initiative is an official petition, like a Downing Street petition. If it succeeds in gathering a million signatures across the EU, the Commission is obliged to respond.
This petition calls for the EU to act to protect media pluralism and press freedom.
CPBF Annual General Meeting
DATELINE: 1/3/13
Make a note in your diary
Saturday 13 July 2013 from 10.00am
NUJ HQ, 308/312 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1.
Leveson, media ownership, CPBF future work.
DOWNLOAD FREEPRESS NOW
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Download Freepress in PDF, ePub or mobi format. Issue 194 now available.
MEDIA FOR ALL CONFERENCE
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Papers from the Media for All Conference
MEDIA MANIFESTO
DATELINE: 26/3/10
The media’s job is to inform and entertain us but we rely on them too to tell us what our rulers and representatives are up to. In the run-up to the Iraq war the government used spin and disinformation in the media to create panic and mislead people. The truth is coming out now, but we need stronger, more independent media to be able to scrutinise governments and make informed choices.
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Previous stories
Free Speech & Censorship
FoI training from the Campaign for Freedom of information
Journalists worldwide protest Canada's news lockout
Australia gets tough on journalists
Government to consult over Freedom of Information and the PCC
A law unto itself
Community Newspaper uses FoI Act
Open the Books!
Freedom of speech - the global challenge
IFEX handbook on free expression campaigns
A message from the McLibel two
Using FoI
Freedom At Last?
Congratulations
Lobbying, FoI and News International
