Category: Freedom of Information

On World Press Freedom Day, the inevitable calls for reform of Irish defamation law focus on the wrong issues

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| 2016-17 Reform, Defamation, Freedom of Expression, Freedom of Information

World Press Freedom Day 2016, via UN website
Today is World Press Freedom Day. The UN/UNESCO Declarations on Promoting Independent and Pluralistic Media were adopted on 3 May 1991, at a seminar on Promoting an Independent and Pluralistic African Press, held in Windhoek, Namibia, from 29 April to 3 May 1991. Article 1 provides (with added link):

Consistent with article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the establishment, maintenance and fostering of an independent, pluralistic and free press is essential to the development and maintenance of democracy in a nation, and for economic development.

On foot of a recommendation (pdf; see proposal II.B, p2) from UNESCO, on 20 December 1993 the UN General Assembly adopted (pdf; see p29) 3 May, the anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek, as World Press Freedom Day.

To mark the day, President Michael D. Higgins toay issued a statement highlighting the crucial role of the media, and of the fundamental principles of media freedom, pluralism and independence, in democratic societies:

This year, 100 years since the momentous event of the 1916 Easter Rising, we are reminded of the importance of a free and democratic society and of the central role that journalism must play in the quest for a full and accountable democratic republic.

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Monitoring media pluralism in Ireland

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| Freedom of Expression, Freedom of Information, Media and Communications

Updated: 1 November 2017

MPM logo via CMPF at EUIArticle 11(2) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (pdf) provides that

The freedom and pluralism of the media shall be respected.

As a consequence, as part of its implementation of the Digital Single Market, the European Commission defends Media Freedom and Pluralism in a variety of ways. For example, the Media Pluralism Monitor is designed to identify potential risks to media pluralism in Member States. It is based in the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom in the Robert Schumann Centre for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute, Florence. The pilot programme was established in 2009. The monitor has been implemented twice, first in 2014 on 9 EU countries, and second in 2015 on the remaining 19 EU countries. [Update: In 2016, the CMPF implemented the monitor in all 28 EU Member States and in two candidates countries (Montenegro and Turkey).] Ireland was included in the 2015 monitor, in a chapter written by Dr Roderick Flynn of DCU.

The monitor assesses four key areas of media pluralism. The first relates to Basic Protection, which concerns

regulatory safeguards for freedom of expression and the right to information; the status of journalists, and the independence and effectiveness of the national regulatory bodies.

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Freedom of information: a comparative legal survey

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| Freedom of Information

From Michael Lines on Slaw:

Freedom of information: a comparative legal survey

UNESCO and its Communication and Information Sector have just released a new edition of Freedom of information: a comparative legal survey, and it is free online.

Freedom of Information survey book cover, via the UNESCO websiteThe survey was prepared by Toby Mendel, Law Programme Director with Article XIX. From the survey’s homepage:

The importance of the right to information or the right to know is an increasingly constant refrain in the mouths of development practitioners, civil society, academics, the media and governments.

What is this right, is it really a right and how have governments sought to give effect to it? These are some of the questions this book seeks to address, providing an accessible account of the law and practice regarding freedom of information, and an analysis of what is working and why.

The analysis in the book is organised around a number of key features of an effective Freedom of Information regime:

  1. MAXIMUM DISCLOSURE
    Freedom of information legislation should by guided by the principle of maximum disclosure
  2. OBLIGATION TO PUBLISH
    Public bodies should be under an obligation to publish key Information
  3. PROMOTION OF OPEN GOVERNMENT
    Public bodies must actively promote open government
  4. LIMITED SCOPE OF EXCEPTIONS
    Exceptions should be clearly and narrowly drawn and subject to strict “harm” and “public interest” tests
  5. PROCESSES TO FACILITATE ACCESS
    Requests for information should be processed rapidly and fairly and an independent review of any refusals should be available
  6. COSTS
    Individuals should not be deterred from making requests for information by excessive costs
  7. OPEN MEETINGS
    Meetings of public bodies should be open to the public
  8. DISCLOSURE TAKES PRECEDENCE
    Laws which are inconsistent with the principle of maximum disclosure should be amended or repealed
  9. PROTECTION FOR WHISTLEBLOWERS
    Individuals who release information on wrongdoing – whistleblowers – must be protected

Ireland is not one of the countries assessed in this report, but since Elaine Byrne argued in yesterday’s Irish Times that legislation is need to protect whistleblowers, I am not sanguine that the Irish legislation (1997 as amended in 2003) would measure up well against these principles.…

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