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Saving Syria’s Children: Tribunal upholds BBC’s rejection of FOI request
Monday, December 19, 2016 2:50
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The First-tier Tribunal (General Regulatory Chamber) has dismissed my appeal against the Information Commissioner’s Office’s decision to uphold the BBC’s rejection of my Freedom of Information request for material relating to the September 2013 BBC Panorama programme Saving Syria’s Children’.
https://bbcpanoramasavingsyriaschildren.wordpress.com/2016/12/16/saving-syrias-children-tribunal-upholds-bbcs-rejection-of-foi-request/
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bbcpanoramasavingsyriaschildren.wordpress.com
Following a hearing on 24 November 2016 the First-tier Tribunal (General Regulatory Chamber) has dismissed my appeal against the decision of the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to uphold th…
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The BBC’s original decision of 26 January 2016 stated:
“The information you have requested is excluded from the Act because it is held for the purposes of ‘journalism, art or literature.’ The BBC is therefore not obliged to provide this information to you and will not be doing so on this occasion. Part VI of Schedule 1 to FOIA provides that information held by the BBC and the other public service broadcasters is only covered by the Act if it is held for ‘purposes other than those of journalism, art or literature”. The BBC is not required to supply information held for the purposes of creating the BBC’s output or information that supports and is closely associated with these creative activities.”
At the Tribunal I argued that Ian Pannell’s reports did not constitute journalism, as they were largely fabricated. This possibility was not of concern to the Judge and Tribunal Members, who cited Orson Welles’ 1938 War of the Worlds as a possible comparable instance, i.e. even if Pannell’s reports constituted “art or literature” rather than journalism, the material I had requested would still relate to the BBC’s “creative activities” and would therefore remain exempt from Freedom of Information rights.
British media analysis website Medialens argues that the exemption of BBC News editorial decision-making from the Freedom of Information Act “..is a longstanding, fundamental barrier to making @BBCNews accountable.”
Robert Stuart
Philosophers stone – selected views from the boat http://philosophers-stone.co.uk
Source: http://www.philosophers-stone.co.uk/?p=16690
