The World Bank - Working for a world free of poverty

Views menu

Syndicate content
Exploring the interactions among public opinion, governance, and the public sphere

About us

Welcome

This blog is published by the Communication for Governance & Accountability Program (CommGAP).
Learn More>>

Freedom of Information (FOI) Acts

Against the Secrecy Bug: Promoting Internet Use to Further Accountability

Submitted by Anne-Katrin Arnold on Wed, 06/24/2009 - 10:12

Bureaucracies are inherently secretive. German sociologist Max Weber said that in the 1920s, long before the advent of television news conferences and the internet, in a time when journalism wasn't actually meant to be investigative. That is true for autocracies, but don't think democratic governments are immune to the secrecy bug. United States government agencies increased the use of privacy exemptions to deny federal Freedom of Information Act requests by more than 600 % between 1998 and 2002, according to a study by Jennifer LaFleur.

Freedom of Information – Let’s Start Looking beyond the Law

Submitted by Paul Mitchell on Wed, 04/30/2008 - 14:07

Photo Credit: Trevor Samson, 2002 (WB)There is a lot of attention paid to Freedom of Information (FOI) Acts. The World Bank outlined some of the issues related to the subject both in a World Development Report in 2002, with a chapter on media and also in the book, The Right To Tell. Active research also went on afterwards to identify countries that had an FOI regime and those that did not.  There are clearly many benefits to the public in countries that have enacted FOI laws.