|
» HR Agenda
» Topics For Discussion
» Reports & Press Releases
» Newsletter
» HR Awards
» Homes On HRinfo
» Services . Jobs . volenteering
» HR Publications
» Focus
» Step Forward
Search the site |
|
|
|
Join Newsletter |
|
|
|
The British Guardian and the Freedom of Information
The British daily, the Guardian has become a model in transparency and the freedom of information, for it has allocated special pages in its website for the issue of freedom of information.
Through these pages, the web users can learn about and exercise their freedom to obtain and circulate information for which the British government issued the Freedom of Information Act in 2000.
It means that the British media, including the daily newspaper has unexpectedly excelled the western media, unlike the Arab media, which is still far a way from coping with the international developments because of its ultimate obedience to the state authority, which in turn does not believe in the freedom of information.
In the Arab world, the freedom of information is limited and always depends on the decisions of the high positions and authorities, while the western media has made great headway towards transparency and freedom of information, particularly when considering freedom of information as a pillar of human rights.
The freedom of information act applies to all the recorded information held by public authorities about all ministries and non governmental bodies, considering "the right to know" as a legal right granted for everybody from any nationality, wherever he/she stays.
Everybody has the right to receive a written notification in case of the availability of the needed information, in compliance with 24 exemptions, 8 of them are absolute, that pertaining to the information requested from the security agencies, intelligence agencies, courts records, parliamentary and informational impunity which disclosure results in a state incredibility.
As for the other 16 qualified exemptions, some of them are related to the national security, the national defense and the investigations conducted by the public authorities.
|
|
|
|
The published articles reflect the author's opinion, either individual or organization, it does not necessarily present the Network's opinion
