Daily: SECRET WAR – Freedom of Information under attack

Press freedom is under attack from Priti Patel’s draconian plans to tighten the Official Secrets Act, which would criminalise the “onward disclosure” of leaked material, putting journalists at increased risk of imprisonment. Meanwhile the Government routinely stonewalls Freedom of Information requests – making it harder to hold them to account.

How did our rights to freedom of information become so eroded, with government able to skirt the law by simply blacklisting journalists? Former BBC journalist and FOI expert Martin Rosenbaum tells Alex Andreou about the need for strong FOI rights, the infamous ‘Clearing House’ where FoI requests go to die – and the dangers of “outsourcing” scrutiny of government to hard-up pressure groups.

• “Blair introduced the FOI Act and later said he was a complete idiot for doing so.”
• “There's no enthusiasm for Freedom of Information in central government at all.”
• “There's no law saying you have to appear on the Today Programme. But there is a law that you have to respond to an FOI request.”

Presented by Alex Andreou. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jelena Sofronijevic and Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production

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