Radio 4 Tuesday 27th Sept – repeated Sunday 2 October at 5pm and available online (for a week or so afterward) at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/radio4_aod.shtml?radio4/right_to_know

This was an interesting programme in which investigative reporter Michael Crick and producer Martin Rosenbaum made a number of FOI requests to test the new Freedom of Information laws. They were successful in some requests – such as gaining access to Special Branch police files held on anti-apartheid protestors – but less so in many more cases. For example the Metropolitan Police simply ignored their request for the ‘shoot to kill policy’ and Downing Street mindlessly refused to release the Prime Minister’s Christmas card list on the grounds that to do so would offend those not included – though surely they would know this by fact they don’t receive a card!

Those interviewed included myself, Maurice Frankel of the Campaign for Freedom of Information, Patrick Lavelle, who is doing research on the Police and FOI at the University of Sunderland, Friends of the Earth solicitor Phil Michaels, and Paul Hutcheon who is political editor of the Sunday Herald (Scotland) and has made a record 400+ requests. Those on the establishment side included David Chinchen of the Metropolitan Police, Information Commissioner Richard Thomas, and the Lord Chancellor Charlie Falconer.

The highlight of the programme had to be Crick challenging Charlie Falconer’s idealistic rhetoric on openness with the ugly reality of delays and denials that Crick received from Falconer’s own department in response to his FOI requests.

The poor response to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, USA shows in stark terms the consequences of diverting all money to the war on terror while ignoring more prosaic realities at home. America is not unique in diverting funds this way. In the UK, we have seen parts of London stripped bare as police are diverted to fight the war on terror – leaving the city itself vulnerable.

Crying terrorism is now the favourite pasttime of politicians eager to be free from the glare of public accountability. Tony Blair’s refusal to tell the British public where he was spending his summer holiday (and at whose expense) comes to mind. George W Bush trots out the terrorism wail any time he is asked to answer difficult questions.

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press in the US has released a newly updated edition of its report on the effects of the war on terrorism and the public’s right to know. See RCFP’s ‘Homefront Confidential’.

Reporters in the US are already making the connection between Bush’s intense secrecy and the effects of Hurricane Katrina. The Society of Environmental Journalists has criticised the United States Environmental Protection Agency for its delay in responding to requests about the environmental impacts of Katrina. The group’s report has lessons for all British environmental reporters and campaigners: ‘A Flawed Tool–Environmental Reporters’ experiences With the Freedom of Information Act’.

Another American citizens’ rights group, OMB Watch, has posted an initial compilation of potentially toxic sites in the industrial areas in and around New Orleans that may require remedial action in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Thanks to Steven Aftergood’s Secrecy News for these resources.