“It’s like making policy in a goldfish bowl,” spluttered one permanent secretary after reading Adam Raphael’s report in the Observer last week of how the government reached its decisions on the fourth television channel. Yet the plans for the future of broadcasting, to be published on Tuesday, will be none the worse for the public discussion that accompanied the conclusions.
Ministers, however, have no such confidence in the general principle of open government, judging by the disgracefully inadequate proposals published in the White Paper for reforming the Official Secrets Act.
The claim that further study is needed of American and Swedish freedom of information laws is an admission that the government has no intention of pursuing any such course. It would be better if the prime minister defended his views on the need for secrecy in government, rather than continue the current hypocritical debate.
The problem with open government as a cause is that everyone claims to be in favour of it. Yet the right to know is not just a vaguely desirable social objective, but the missing link in our democracy.
Talking point
Soviet officials seem to believe that these few journalists are crucial to keeping the tiny band of dissidents in business, and they may be right. This is surely the thought that prompted the slander prosecutions of Hal Piper and Craig Whitney. This trial signals a new effort to turn the lights off again in Russia.
Robert Kaiser of the Washington Post on the conviction for slander of fellow American journalists
Key quote
“People have forgotten that stories are meant to be told - I found my own voice by hearing other voices.”
New York writer Grace Paley on why she likes to give public readings
