Fight for Freedom of Information in the UK---an example of how

[Gloria]

a newspaper with any self-respect should respond.....This from the Lincolnshire Echo

http://www.thisislincolnshire.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=156130&command=displayContent&sourceNode=201483&home=yes&more_nodeId1=156133&contentPK=16456167


JOIN THE FIGHT FOR FREEDOM


09:45 - 22 January 2007


The Echo is today urging its readers to join a campaign to stop the Government allowing public bodies to operate in secret.

We are asking people to sign an online petition against plans to change the two-year-old Freedom of Information Act.

The Act has allowed Echo reporters to reveal details of how police, councils and other authorities spend taxpayers' cash.

It has also given readers access to local restaurants' hygiene reports, information on what weapons have been found in county schools and a full list of all the crime committed in Lincoln during a week.

But proposed changes would turn down the pressure on publicly-funded institutions to be so accountable.

On Friday, The Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill - which threatens to seriously damage the right of access to more than 100,000 public authorities - passed its second reading in Parliament.

The bill will hand public bodies, including councils, police authorities and Government departments, the means to dismiss some requests for information out of hand - regardless of their merits.

Journalists - the eyes and ears of taxpayers - are among those likely to be targeted.

[Kutjara]

1. It took decades of struggle in the UK to get...

...the Freedom of Information Act passed in the face of fierce government opposition. Now, the moment they think the public's back is turned, the Government is once again trying to eviscerate it. Their mendacity knows no limits.

I'm glad papers like the Echo are at least trying to raise public awareness of this important issue. No doubt phony Tony will accuse them of being on the side of the terrorists any day now.