ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with restraints upon access to information created directly or indirectly by the law governing the release of sensitive government information, of ‘official secrets’. It also considers the corollary – the positive rights to access to information held by public authorities now granted by the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FoI), which came into force on 1 January 2005. This Act is not, strictly speaking, an aspect of the law of freedom of expression; since it gives positive rights to information, it does not, strictly, affect media free expression: it does not place restraints upon what the media may publish; rather it assists media bodies in their attempts to extract information from public authorities.2 This is the stance taken at Strasbourg: Art 10 does not, as discussed below, offer rights of access to information. The Act is of concern in free expression terms in that it is very likely that journalists, along with opposition politicians and campaigners, as well as concerned individuals, will make particular use of it, in order to obtain information. This chapter offers a brief treatment, taking account of developments since the Act came into force, because the Act is relevant to the overall position of the media as it seeks to hold government to account. For example, the law on disclosure of journalistic sources is difficult to assess without some knowledge of the means by which information about bodies such as hospitals, the police, and local authorities may be freely obtainable.
