31 Results

The union representing ABC employees has backed the public broadcaster’s bid to block an FOI request that would reveal the salaries of ABC staff, saying it would set a dangerous precedent.

Former Victorian premier John Cain has condemned “political apparatchiks” for “trashing” freedom of information laws, one of the major reforms of his term in office.

In an attempt to avoid the “legal burden” of FOI, the University of Canberra has pressured four students into withdrawing applications on planned cuts. But Lauren Ingram didn’t back down.

A Herald Sun journalist has lodged a Freedom of Information request with the ABC for all emails and other correspondence between me, other Crikey staff and Mark Scott and the ABC’s public relations people.

Crikey readers have their say.

Friday afternoon has become the time du jour for government departments to publish potentially damaging FOI documents.

News Ltd CEO John Hartigan has given the Rudd government a glowing report card on its press freedom efforts so far. But what grade would we give News Limited itself? asks Margaret Simons.

Is the Right To Know Coalition, launched with such a fanfare by our major media companies just three years ago, now running dead?

The previously secret agreement all Apple app developers are required to sign has been made public through a very clever legal loophole (the NASA app meant it was FOI-able). Read it in all its super-strict glory.

Expect some drama as the Freedom of Information reform Bill is debated in federal parliament, since an amendment that would fatally undermine the move to more open government has been slipped in.

The FBI has released 300-odd pages of its files on Michael Jackson. Read them all — or just get the highlights here.

Changes to Australia’s Freedom of Information legislation next year will make it easier for journalists to access government documents — but just who does the government consider a “journalist”? asks Peter Timmins. Do Australia’s bloggers also have a Right to Know?

Twenty-two million emails from the Bush White House have been found and restored, despite the administration’s claims none were missing from the archives. It raises the question: what else has fallen through the cracks?

Public servants have a direct responsibility to act in the public interest in all aspects of their work, writes former public service commissioner Andrew Podger.

The new era of transparency and openness sought by the media (and most prominently by the News Ltd dominated Right To Know Coalition) comes with an unexpected complication: now everyone can play.