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Title: Access to Information:


1
Access to Information
Access to Information Jamaica
The use of Access to information in Investigative
journalism An International perspective
  • The use of Access to information in Investigative
    journalism An International perspective

2
  • There is not a crime, there is not a dodge,
    there is not a trick,there is not a swindle,
    there is not a vice which does not live by
    secrecy.Joseph Pulitzer

3
What is a right to Information?
  • New Human right
  • Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
    Article 19
  • Knowledge is Power

4
What is a right to information?
  • It is a right to know what your government is
    doing and to view the information they hold or
    create.
  • The opposite of secrecy
  • It is the acceptance of the principle that the
    Government does not own the information which it
    holds but it belongs to the people

5
Why is a right to information important?
  • Greater accountability and transparency
  • Allows fulfillment of civil and political rights
  • Prevents and reveals corruption
  • Increases public participation in a democracy
  • Lack of information can deny us food, minimum
    wage, medicine, hurricane relief and a hospital.

6
What is its value to society?
  • Inequality of access to information is a form
    of poverty
  • Amartya Sen Noble Peace Prize Economist
  • Thai School
  • Moratorium Crime Statistics- South Africa

7
Do we have a right to information in Jamaica ?
  • The Access to Information Act 2002
  • Section 6 of the Jamaica ATI Act  2002
  • "Every person shall have a right to obtain access
    to an official document other than an exempt
    document."
  • Passed in Parliament July 22, 2002.
  • Brought into effect January 4, 2004

8
What has the experience been in implementation?
  • Twenty (20) Public Authorities under the Act
  • December 2004, 279 applications for access to
    Government.
  • By July 2005 all Public Authorities will be
    bought under Act
  • ATI Appeal Tribunal has received ten (10) appeals

9
What types of requests have been made?
  • Persons have made requests for-
  • Cost of the stay of President Aristide
  • The number of cases concerning persons being
    beaten by Police Officers while in custody
  • The contract for the renovations of the Governor
    of the Bank of Jamaicas House
  • The ratio of nurses to doctors at a Hospital in
    Montego Bay
  • The basis for the grant of a duty concession to a
    popular entertainer

10
What is Investigative Journalism?
  • Investigative journalism is ...
  • In-depth, long-term research reporting
  • Documentary research and use of public and
    private records, following the paper trail
  • Extensive interviewing
  • Crime-solving tools and methods (undercover
    reporting, hidden cameras, surveillance)
  • Revealing information others want to keep secret
    or information not known to the public
  • Materials form Conference on
    Investigative Journalism in South East
    Asia

11
Why is ATI important for journalists?
  • Investigative Journalists need access to credible
    reliable information
  • Important for journalists who want to rely on
    facts instead of innuendo
  • Journalists depend on having a free flow of
    information
  • Journalists are watchdogs
  • Information access no longer discretionary or
    solely dependant on sources

12
What is the role of ATI in Investigative
Reporting?
  • ATI can play an important role in investigative
    journalism.
  • It can be a Story e.g.refusal
  • It can be used to build a story
  • The use of ATI is based on Document oriented
    reporting

13
Importance of ATI to Journalists
  • ATI is simply a tool of getting information out.
  • A successful or semi-successful FOI request ought
    to be the springboard for follow-up
  • ATI requests can throws extra light on an issue,
    changes the complexion of a problem or otherwise
    brings out a good story.

14
How have journalists used their RTI in other
countries ?- United States
  • Pictures of coffins of Soldiers who died in IRAQ
  • Minutes of meetings of energy industry with Dick
    Cheney
  • Federal program to give money to large fast food
    companies to advertise over seas (200 million)

15
How have journalists used their RTI in other
countries United States?
  • The Albuquerque Tribune filed requests for
    information on victims of governmental radiation
    experiments in the early 1990s
  • The Dayton Daily News used the Act to peruse
    Occupational Safety and Health Administration
    databases obtained through the Act to identify
    the most dangerous work places in the country.

16
How have journalists used their RTI in other
countries? -Ireland
  • Journalists made 17 of the 3,000 applications
    for information in the first year of the
    operation of the Act
  • An RTE journalist, Charlie Bird, used the Act to
    obtain correspondence which revealed there had
    been political interference in the promotion of
    diplomats. Other stories as a result of the Act
    have dealt with the expenses of ministers and how
    much MPs spent on foreign trips.

17
How have journalists used their RTI in other
countries? United Kingdom
  • Freedom of Information Act passed in England on
    January 1, 2005, 4,000 requests in 1 month.
  • Agencies receiving the most requests-The
    National Archives, the Ministry of Defence and
    the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
  • Requests include restaurant hygiene inspections
    to loaned artwork and ministerial residences.
  • 2000 requests have come from journalists.

18
How have journalists used their RTI in other
countries? -Australia
  • In Australia, a reporter for the Canberra Times
    made a request that involved the oil painting of
    Malcolm Fraser. It was commissioned by Parliament
    but Fraser did not like it so it was sent to the
    warehouse and another 12,000 portrait was
    commissioned. They asked to see the reject and
    were told no. Access was sought under FOI
    arguing that, an oil painting was a document.
    Access was given to TV stations rather than the
    paper making the original request.

19
How have journalists used their RTI in other
countries? Canada
  • A Health Department memo was obtained under the
    Access to Information Act of Canada that stated
    that there was use of U.S. prison blood products
    in Canada after being halted in the United States
    because U.S. authorities did not tell a Canadian
    broker the products were unsafe.
  • An estimated 1,000 Canadian hemophiliacs, many of
    whom had died, were exposed to blood products
    manufactured from plasma collected through U.S.
    prisons, notably the Cummins Unit at Grady, Ark.
  • Canadian hemophiliacs launched a 5-billion US
    lawsuit alleging the FDA was negligent in
    continuing to license prison blood centres
    despite evidence that prisons are rife with
    infection-drug use and high-risk sex.

20
What are some of the problems Journalists have
with ATI?
  • Time to obtain information
  • Requests can be ignored
  • ATI is not geared towards all-news-all-the-time
    media
  • Costs
  • Government may make public requests made or give
    tips to journalists who can create a spin to
    information
  • Need support from Editors

21
What are some of the problems Journalists have
with ATI?
  • Not every request results in a story
  • Getting a story through ATI may take human
    resources assigned to one story,It is easy to
    fill up a newspaper, television report or radio
    program with material which does not cost a lot
    to generate.
  • JOURNALISTS, FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
    LEGISLATION AND INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING
    Jack Waterford ,Editor The Times

22
What should journalists in JA be doing?
  • Before making an ATI request about Government,
    research your topic thoroughly.
  • Look at the public record first. "Fishing
    expeditions" can only occasionally be productive.

  • Establish who the official is with charge over
    the area and contact them.
  • Read information the Government provides
    publicly.
  • Make a request usually only if regular inquiries
    have failed to produce what you want.
  • Determine the material nature of the information
    is it held on paper, in electronic form, or both?

23
What should journalists in JA be doing?
  • Review publication schemes of Public Authorities
    to ascertain what documents are held by the
    Authority
  • Take care in making requests be specific-You can
    frame your request in terms of information or
    documents e.g. "I want all documents that would
    enable me to discover how the tender process
    worked, or I want all the contracts award to
    X.

24
What should journalists in JA be doing
  • Do not be deterred by an initial refusal. Ask
    again.
  • When refused access, one should not automatically
    appeal. One should look at the reasons and see
    whether they stand up. The onus of proving that
    information should not be released is, entirely
    on the agency.
  • May make requests for documents for potential
    stories or to come up with a story e.g. a request
    for a list of all files in a registry
  • Read your obtained documents very carefully they
    can provide additional leads.

25
What should journalists in JA be doing?
  • Journalists have to understand their rights
    under the Act, know how to frame a request and
    understand types of documents which might be
    available and what they might expect
  • Making requests even though it may take weeks to
    get the information
  • Reporting on Appeals and Refusals
  • Monitoring the implementation process
  • Testing different access system to information
    which should be publicly available e.g. Info from
    court houses, on registers.
  • Making requests for ATI logs of requests made

26
What is the public interest in having
information released?
  • Journalists have to be prepared to argue that
    there is an overwhelming public interest in
    disclosure including that disclosure may help to
    ensure that
  • informed public debate
  • Public participation
  • Scrutiny of the decision-making process
  • Accountability -spending of public money
  • No misinformation
  • Information about possible dangers to health and
    safety or the environment are released

27
Jamaica Access to Information Act FAQ
  • Comes into force in stages
  • Covers entire public sector except Governor
    General where uses powers and duties under
    constitution, judges, Police and JDF in relation
    to their intelligence gathering activities
  • Includes a right to information not absolute
    narrow categories of exemptions s.7 s.14-21

28
Jamaica Access to Information Act FAQ
  • Obligation of Government bodies to publish what
    information they hold s.4
  • Obligation to respond within a specific time s.7
    30 days after receipt of request.

29
Jamaica Access to Information Act FAQ
  • A right of internal review and to appeal when
    refused information s.30 32
  • A right to information at a reasonable cost s.12
  • A right to information without proof of an
    interest or reason for wanting the information s.6

30
Case Studies
  • Pick out one story from these case studies and
    discuss the following
  • 1.Is this a good story?
  • 3. How will you approach this story using ATI as
    a tool?
  • 4. Where will you get the information?
  • 5. What arguments will you use to support your
    claims for access to information?
  • 2003, Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA),
    Colombo, Sri Lanka

31
Freedom, prosperity and the development of
society depend on education as well as on
unrestricted access to knowledge, thought,
culture and information International
Federation of Library Associations and
Institutions, 2005
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