A senior government minister has said it “isn’t acceptable” for journalists to use the Freedom of Information Act to generate stories.
Leader of the House of Commons Chris Graylng has criticised reporters who use FoI as a research tool, claiming it amounted to “misuse” of the legislation.
Mr Grayling was responding in Parliament to a question from Labour MP Jack Dromey when he made the comments.
His remarks have been condemned as “ridiculous” by the Society of Editors, which last week launched its “Hands Off FoI” campaign in conjunction with HoldtheFrontPage and Press Gazette.
Mr Dromey, MP for Birmingham Erdington, mentioned a similar campaign being run by city titles the Post and Mail in delivering his question.
He asked: “Does the Leader of the House therefore understand the concern being expressed in Birmingham and by the Birmingham Post and Mail over the threat now to Freedom of Information? And will he agree to an urgent debate on what is a threat to a cornerstone of our democracy?”
Mr Grayling responded: “The Freedom of Information Act is something this government is committed to but we want to make sure it works well and fairly. It cannot be abused. It cannot be misused.
“It is on occasions misused by those who use it effectively as a research tool to generate stories for the media. That isn’t acceptable.
“It is a legitimate and important tool for those who want to understand why and how government has taken decisions, and it is not the intention of this government to change that.”
The “Hands Off FoI” campaign was launched after the government set up an Independent Commission on Freedom of Information into possible amendments to FoI which is widely expected to seek to water-down the legislation.
Bob Satchwell, executive director of the Society of Editors said: “It’s ridiculous to suggest that journalists are missing the Act. It was designed to inform the public and that is precisely what the media do.
“It is very worrying that such a senior minister seems incapable of understanding the role of the media in a democratic society. He should look at the amazing range of scandals exposed by regional journalists using FoI.”
Earlier this week Mr Dromey’s Labour colleague Tom Watson, the party’s deputy leader, told the Mail he favours calls for the government to refrain from changing the Act.
The Commission is looking at providing greater “protection” for internal discussions, which include Cabinet discussions and risk assessments by government and local authorities.
It will also examine the ministerial veto and whether anything should be done to limit the burden which local authorities are arguing the Act places on them.
Regional editors are being urged to write to MPs in their newspaper’s circulation areas to fight proposals to restrict the Act.
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What rubbish! Journalists should certainly use the Freedom of Information Act to find out what’s really going on in public life and report on it. The only reason some people don’t want it used is because it might show them up in an embarrassing light.
Here’s a Guardian story from 2005 when they reported on me using the new FoI Act. http://www.theguardian.com/society/2005/may/17/children.bullying
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Can see both sides. It is a gift horse for lazy/hard pressed journalists, but also I wouldn’t trust this government or its motives as far as I could throw Big Ben.
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They still haven’t got over the expenses scandal. Politicians like Graying will never get it. He basically wants people to submit FOIs but not report on them. What a complete fool. Next time they talk of our ‘fair and democratic society’ remember his statement. They’d rather a ‘free press’ like North Korea’s…
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Jeff Jones, some FOI requests require meticulous planning, thorough research and the utmost patience. I would not call it lazy journalism at all. More like pro-active, off-diary, agenda-setting journalism.
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What other purpose does the Minister think a journalist might use an FoI for – if not to generate stories? Passing the time of day?
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PS If there is any laziness, it is not using the FoI Act enough!
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It’s legal, it produces some good stories. As the young ones say “What’s not to like?”
Its a whole lot more proactive than waiting for the next press release from cops, council, football club or knitting circle to drop into a shape!
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You might be inclined to take this more seriously if it wasn’t the thoughts of Chris Grayling, the man whose incompetence saw him shuffled out of his last government job.
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I remember a Cambs police press officer once telling me FoI is not for journalists – its for ordinary people.
Total nonsense.
It’s how ordinary people get informed.
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Surreal. Thought this was a spoof when I saw the headline.
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“Those who use it effectively as a research tool to generate stories for the media” would actually include people like Jackson Carlaw, an MSP representing Mr Grayling’s party, who sends out press releases based on facts he’s unearthed via FOI.
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Well if all who are in charge are corrupt free then journalists wouldn’t need to use FOI requests to get infiormation hidden away from public view. Don’t let the system screw the common man and let’s try to get politicians to lose some weight, grow less beards, spend less and start to help others instead of themselves.
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Moronic stuff from Grayling. On our patch, FOI has become the only way for us to get to the truth behind press releases, crime figures, health statistics and employment figures. The amount of misinformation fed to us is staggering. It’s only when we mention FOI that the press officers start to jump into action.
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so whats unusual about Chris Grayling throwing his toys out of the pram about FoI requests? Answer – nothing. Like James Wharton, who is busy urging folk to stop buying the Northern Post because he doesn’t like what it says, and Andrew Mitchell, who would like to flog anyone writing a word of criticism against him, Grayling is now leading the pack of bully-boy Tory Ministers who feel there are no constraints to throwing their weight about outside the Upper Sixth. Add them to those who are out to throttle the BBC into financial submission, those who approve of the police seizing reporter’s laptops, and those using a Royal Commission to try and silence the voices they don’t like, and what have you got ….. the most serious threat to our Rights of Free Speech for centuries. They have waited until our print media is at its weakest point too – just what you would expect of bullies in the school playground.
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Adrian. It’s FEWER beards, but I take your point.
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This is seriously scary! What the hell does Grayling think we should be doing with FOI.? The clue is in the title Chris! Another example of how the Tories are hell-bent on demolishing our freedoms, along with everything else.
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What is particularly alarming about Grayling’s comment is not just the attitude it displays towards FoI but his ignorance about the role of the media in a democratic society and the false opposition he seeks to draw between ‘generating stories’ and ‘understanding how and why government takes decisions.’ What on earth does he think the role of journalists actually is, if it is not to understand how and why government and other public authorities take decisions, and to explain that to the people affected by them? The (absurd) logic of Grayling’s position is that anyone who wants to know anything about what government or other public authorities are doing should submit their own FoI requests, thus removing the need for all these pesky journalists to do so on their behalf. Of course if that really did happen, the system would soon collapse under the weight of all the requests.
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Hang on a second, is anyone here suggesting that FOI isn’t used by anyone but journalists?
In fact, journalists represent only a small part of the overall picture. The majority of FOI requests are actually submitted by the likes of pressure groups, think tanks, single-issue hobby horse riders, conspiracy theorists and the like. Some of the people in these organisations send in trivial and sometimes vexatious requests every day of the week, taking up hours and hours of time.
The difficulty with FOI is that it rightly isn’t the sole preserve of journalists. If it was it would be easy to manage. But nowadays we have citizen journalism where anyone can set up a blog and call themselves an investigative reporter yet have no regard or interest in balance. And so FOI it has become the default tool for people who quite frankly aren’t interested in ‘the public good’ but more interested in justifying their existence/prejudices.
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While Grayling’s comments are outrageous, I understand a small part of it from having worked on both sides of the fence.
I’ve seen FoIs asking for the number of tennis racquets or golf balls owned by a council and we’ve all seen the daft ones about preparations in place for a zombie apocalypse.
When presented as an FoI, these stupid questions take time and taxpayer cash because they have to legally go through the process which councils have in place in to respond. There are dozens of these a week at most councils.
These sorts of FoIs are lazy for two reasons. One, they often result in meaningless ‘stories’ and, second, they usually don’t ask the right questions in the right way to get good stories.
I’m seen comms managers rubbing their hands with glee at the way some FoIs have been asked because the answers can be presented in such a way that ‘hides’ what they journalist was really after, or at least what they should have been after.
I certainly don’t wish to remove the FoI from any journalist’s toolkit, but there does need to be much better and considered use of it for the good of the public all round!
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Sorry for the typos again. I’m giving up doing this on a phone.
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One of the points about the media is that it does things on behalf of the general public. Attending court, for instance. A journalist using an FoI is just doing the equivalent. One person spreading the word to many. If they ban journos from doing FoIs there should be a concerted campaign to get as many people as possible asking the same FoI at the same time. Perhaps starting with Chirs Grayling’s office.
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gone fishin’. Did you say attending court? Was that a jest? My local paid-for rag hasn’t sent a local reporter to court for years. Just waiting for that press release from cops HQ probably.
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The problem is that too many self-important politicians are still smarting from the expenses scandal revelations. As the good book says: take the moat out of your own eyes before attempting to take it out from others. Too many politicians think they are judge, jury and executioner.A key problem is that newspaper managements have cut back on reporters so much there aren’t enough to find enough time to investigate properly what ought to be probed into.
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Adrian, it’s “corruption-free”. Must try harder.
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