No surprise that there was nothing about freedom of information legislation in Friday’s Throne Speech. One can’t help thinking that the fact that The Evil White Empire of Par La Ville Road is campaigning for “your right to know” means Dr Brown will just dig his feet in and ignore it until it suits him and it can somehow be spun to appear to be his initiative. Meanwhile there are vague comments about a “self-regulatory Press Council”. Hmm. Call me cynical but you can just see this degenerating into a press-bashing vehicle for a few paranoid politicians, can’t you? I’m sorry, but given the media savaging American and British politicians take on a regular basis and the real investigative reporting tradition that still exists in both countries, politicians here really should count their blessings. By and large, they deal with a benign media here that is already far more open, responsible and accessible to readers and the written-about than many of its counterparts overseas. If Dr Brown really wants to “ensure that journalistic integrity and the freedom of information continue to mature” then, as Gazette editor Bill Zuill commented, increased public access to information would be a good start.
Breezeblog 