BBC freedom of information exemption challenged at Court of Appeal

Posted by Martin Stabe on 25 January 2008 at 09:24
Tags: BBC, Freedom of Information

The BBC is facing a renewed legal attempt to force public disclosure of the Balen Report, an internal review of its Middle East reporting.

Update: The long-running dispute over whether the BBC , first reported in Press Gazette in 2006, centres on the meaning of a clause in the Freedom of Information Act that exempts the BBC, Channel 4, and S4C from having to disclose any information related to their “journalism, art or literature”.

The case now going to the Court of Appeal could have important implications for how the transparency law applies to the public broadcasters, and whether appeals over their internal decisions about what constitutes “journalism” can be appealed to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Last April, the High Court ruled that the Information Tribunal had no jurisdiction to hear FOI appeals against over BBC’s decisions on what constitutes “journalism” for the purposes of FOI disclosures.

The Tribunal had earlier backed disclosure of the Balen Report, after drawing a distinction between material held for “functional journalism” rather than “strategic” purposes. The Information Commissioner has also made decisions on the matter, ruling that material held in the BBC’s editorial content management system was not subject to FOI requests.

Another area where this case may have implications is the row over transparency on presenters’ pay. The BBC has used the “journalism, art or literature” derogation (along with other exemptions to the FOI Act) to block FOI requests about presenters’ pay. MPs on the Culture Committee this week criticised the BBC for lacking transparency over what it pays to high-profile on-air talent.

Tags: BBC, Freedom of Information