After years of anecdotes, data provides a fuller picture of government agencies hiding their work from the public they ostensibly serve.
Academic rigour, journalistic flair
Articles on Freedom of Information Act
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Automation has wreaked havoc with government processes here and overseas, and freedom of information laws have been key to exposing it. But with the rise of AI, our laws need modernising.
President Alpha Condé’s pursuit of mining interests during the Ebola crisis may have foreshadowed his demise as he tightened his grip over power and plundered the state’s wealth.
In an open democracy, there is no rationale for withholding information about National Cabinet’s decisions or any documents these decisions are based on.
The news Foxtel received a speedy funding boost as the ABC faces another round of damaging cost cuts will raise eyebrows. And questions about how we spend taxpayers’ money.
One more casualty of the coronavirus pandemic: open government. Since the crisis began, local, state and federal officials throughout the United States have locked down information from the public.
There is a strong case to be made that WhatsApp messages are subject to the Freedom of Information Act in the same way as email and others forms of text messages.
When public universities and their foundations take large sums of money from political and strategic philanthropists, they can’t safeguard academic freedom unless there’s some transparency.
During Sunshine Week, three scholars of government transparency look at a potential collision between the old freedom of information movement and the new open government movement. Is there room for both?
An expert on secrecy in government explains the downsides and limits of transparency.
The effects of President Mugabe’s post-independence security clampdown that led to the murder of between 10 000 and 20 000 Zimbabweans, known as the Matabeleland massacre, continue to be felt.
The FOI request was one a first year law student could complete - instead, the courts have been tied up with political game-playing.
University’s reasons for not releasing trial data are groundless.
Data-driven algorithms drive decision-making in ways that touch our economic, social and civic lives. But they contain inherent biases and assumptions that are too often invisible to the public.
Politicians hate secrecy when in opposition but grow to love it when in power.
The use of private messaging apps that bypass government IT raise troubling issues for oversight and freedom of information.
Restricting entities such as tobacco companies’ use of FOI laws is not the best legal response if it helps public bodies generally become more secretive.
Some activists use open records requests to bully researchers – distracting them from their actual work and silencing others who don’t want to draw attention.
Students of color are subjected to harsher disciplinary measures. Are schools doing enough to check this practice?
Top contributors
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Director of the Brechner Freedom of Information Project, College of Journalism and Communications, University of Florida
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Associate Professor of Journalism, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
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Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, The University of Texas at San Antonio
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Special Assistant for Communications, University of Florida
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Senior Vice President for Agriculture and Natural Resources and Professor of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida
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Assistant Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science
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William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science, Amherst College
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Lecturer in Politics, Birkbeck, University of London
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Associate Professor - Acting Dean of Law, University of Tasmania
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Professor of Public Affairs and Administration, Rutgers University - Newark
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Honorary Senior Research Fellow, University of Stirling
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Professor of Law, Monash University
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Associate Professor, School of Law, University of Canberra
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Assistant Professor, Tilburg Institute of Governance, Tilburg University
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Associate Professor of Communication Studies, Northwestern University
