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Freedom At Last?
144/Stephen Dorril
Stephen Dorril’s Blackshirt:Sir Oswald Mosley and British Fascism will be published in September 2005
Hallelujah, a Freedom of Information Act at last! Having used over the past few years, the US, Australian, Irish and even Japanese acts, I know that the British version is one of the weakest in the world. The British Act does not even cover my specialist interest - the role of the security and intelligence services.I am aware of the stories of weeding and destruction of files before the Act came into operation, and that the attitude of ministers appears grudging at best. The suggestion that material released under the Act will be ‘put into context’ by government spin doctors is worrying. However, it is now in operation and we need to make as best use of it as we can.
Because of the Act’s many restrictions we are unlikely to see major coups along the lines of Watergate or Arms to Iraq-type scandals but there is plenty of scope for revelations now that the ‘30 year rule’ on release of documents comes under the FOIA. Enterprising journalists and historians have an opportunity to revisit such episodes as the Miners Strike, the Westland Affair, the Falklands War, Ireland and the myriad other issues which were never properly covered by an overly constrained press.
There is already evidence that the government has realised the absurdity of still keeping records secret for fifty or even a hundred years, and many are now to be released.
The experience of the US FOIA is that business has been the main group to exploit the potential of the Act by seeking information on rivals and government contracts. It will be no different here.
The other group which has effectively clogged up the system in the US, particularly with regard to Immigration and Naturalisation records, has been family historians, feeding the endless desire for family trees. Whilst this is a pain to historians and journalists it may have benefits. Hopefully, the FOIA can be used to expose the appalling state of official’s records on individuals. Police records, for instance, are notoriously inaccurate.
It is in the area of the environment where the Act is likely to have the greatest impact (partly because Europe demands greater openness) as local citizens seek out information on such immediate issues as electricity and microwave pylons, nuclear and chemical dumps. Local PFI and PPP projects, particularly with the collapse of Jarvis and the mounting costs of many the long-term hospital contracts, would also seem to a profitable area to investigate , but will local newspapers use the Act? The paucity of investigative and in-depth news on councils in local papers suggests not.
The national press, rightly cynical about the government’s trumpeting of the Act, has been cautious in its response to the introduction of the FOIA. The Guardian and Independent, however, have been commendable in taking it seriously and setting about using the Act in a planned and systematic way.
It was nearly a decade before the American Act came into its own and then only after major reforms. It is going to be a hard slog in this country and it may be many years before (with a reformed Act with fewer restrictions) any real changes in the general openness of British government comes about. However, the Act is here and everyone genuinely interested in a free press should take the opportunity to chip away at the all-enveloping secrecy with which officialdom encloses the British State.
Last modified: Wednesday, March 16, 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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