Freedom of Information: fight goes on

The reporter whose work led to the publication of British MPs’ expense allowances for the first time was applauded as ADM told the union to campaign for yet more freedom of information.

Heather Brooke was a delegate for the London Freelance Branch in Belfast when the House of Commons released information she had been seeking for three years in her campaign to open up the UK government to public scrutiny.

As a freelance she specialises in freedom of information requests and stories. She also teaches the use of the Freedom of Information Act as part of the union’s training programme.

General Secretary Jeremy Dear praised her work as he proposed a motion welcoming the government’s U-turn on moves to weaken the Act.

It said the Act should cover the Press Complaints Commission under proposals to extend its remit to include private bodies performing public functions.

 

ADM called on the Irish government to reform its FoI Act to reverse the introduction five years ago of punitive charges for applications that have cut back severely the amount of official information reaching the public domain.

 

THE REVEREND Ian Paisley, the retiring chief minister of Northern Ireland, famous for declaring “Ulster says No!”, was the last person journalists should accept “no comment” from, said Paddy O’Flaherty of Northern Ireland Broadcasting Branch. He was supporting a move to resist government attempts to cut back on freedom of information in Northern Ireland, where Dr Paisley’s son Ian Junior was forced from his junior minister’s office by journalists making use of the Act.

 

 

 

 

The Journalist is published by the National Union of Journalists