Carl MacDougall, President of Scottish PEN, and Lisa Clark, Project Manager, have signed a letter from Open Democracy, calling for investigation and greater transparency around the UK Government’s handling of Freedom of Information requests, in response to concerns around ‘blacklisting’ and threats to press freedom.
February 9, 2021Carl MacDougall, President of Scottish PEN, and Lisa Clark, Project Manager, have signed a letter led by Open Democracy, calling for investigation and greater transparency around the UK Government’s handling of Freedom of Information requests, in response to concerns around ‘blacklisting’ and threats to press freedom.
The letter calls for an investigation into the controversial Clearing House unit. It also demands new measures to speed up FOI requests and greater support for the Information Commissioner’s Office, which oversees FOI.
The letter has won the backing of cross-party MPs and peers, leading cultural figures such as the author Philip Pullman, human rights lawyers, journalists, press freedom advocates and global non-governmental organisations including Index on Censorship, RSF, Greenpeace, Article 19, PEN and Transparency International.
They join the editors and editors-in-chiefs of openDemocracy, The Sunday Times, The Daily Telegraph, Financial Times and Daily Mirror, as well as Paul Dacre, chief executive of Associated Newspapers, Alan Rusbridger, former editor-in-chief of The Guardian, and Lionel Barber, former editor of the Financial Times, in demanding swift action to protect FOI.
Read an article from openDemocracy and access the letter at the link below.