Associated Newspapers editor-in-chief Paul Dacre has launched a passionate defence of the Freedom of Information Act, arguing that proposals to water it down are part of an “unprecedented attack” upon the freedom of the press in the UK.
In a 4770-word letter responding to the Independent Commission on Freedom of Information’s call for evidence , Mr Dacre said the media would see any watering down of FOI as “yet another move by an authoritarian political class to restrict their freedom.”
Mr Dacre said: “Today the freedom of the press is under unprecedented attack: through the increasing use of the Data Protection Act by powerful individuals to suppress stories; the abuse of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act by police to expose journalists’ sources; unreformed and punitive Conditional Fee Agreements; and the establishment by the Government of the Royal Charter and discriminatory exemplary damages to force newspapers into state-controlled regulation.
“The media as a whole will inevitably see any erosion of FOI as yet another move by an authoritarian political class to restrict their freedom.”
