Access to Information:

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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

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• 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

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What is a right to Information?

• New Human right
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
  Article 19
  
• Knowledge is Power

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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
  

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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.
  

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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
  

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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

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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

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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.
  

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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)
  

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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
  

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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?

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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.

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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.
  

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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

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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

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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

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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.
  

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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

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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
  

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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