World Press Freedom Day 2008: Focus on Access and Empowerment
Freedom of information (FOI) laws, which give access to public information, are considered one of the most important pieces of legislation to reduce and eventually beat corruption – the “primary obstacle to development,” says UNESCO.
Despite some problems with poorly crafted laws, laws that aren’t implemented, and new laws promoting secrecy in the global war on terror, upwards of 70 countries around the world have comprehensive freedom of information acts, and another 30 have FOI laws in the works, says ARTICLE 19. And the movement to adopt them is growing: witness Jordan’s step last year to become the first country in the Middle East to have a right to information law, or Liberian citizens marching to Parliament this month to present a draft FOI law nearly four years in the making.
“But the media can only play their part in empowering people, if their consumers have the necessary literacy skills to analyse and question the information they receive,” says UNESCO.
Visit these links:
- IFEX World Press Freedom Day page
- UNESCO World Press Freedom Day 2008 page
- AMARC
- ARTICLE 19, “Freedom of Information: A Comparative Legal Survey”
- Privacy International’s Freedom of Information page
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