The National Union of Journalists has called for the department of constitutional affairs to abandon proposals to amend the Freedom of Information Act.
In a 10-page submission to the government consultation, the union said that the proposal to allow public organisations to refuse information requests boiled down to "bureaucratic convenience".
The DCA has drafted changes to the Act allowing organisations to reject requests on grounds of cost if they require substantial preparation or research. The changes will save £10m, it says.
"The act has been enormously useful to journalists wanting to dig deeper into the institutions running our democracy and has helped them reveal uncomfortable truths which the public has a right to know about," said Jeremy Dear, the general secretary of the NUJ.
"Now we are seeing a backlash from the powers that be, who have found the reach of the act has shone light into areas they would prefer to remain in the dark."
The NUJ submission cited the recent FoI request made by the Guardian to the BBC for the minutes of the board of governors meeting in January 2004. The minutes showed that Greg Dyke had asked to be reinstated as director general the week after he was sacked over the Hutton affair.
Around 10% of FoI requests come from journalists. The NUJ says that those requests are more focused and easier for organisations to respond to.
The union also cited research by Public Concern at Work that said any financial savings produced by the amendments would be outweighed by the costs of implementing them. The research put the cost of issuing guidance to FoI officials at £12.2m.
On February 28, a collation of national newspaper editors lobbied the government information minister, Baroness Ashton, over the proposed changes.
Baroness Ashton rejected the suggestion that journalists could be exempt from the changes, or that corporations should pay for the cost of retrieving information.
The government's consultation on the DCA's proposed FoI changes closes today.
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