Publication Date: May 2014

A guide for journalists on how to access governement information

Link: LegalLeaks

The Legal Leaks Toolkit was prepared by Access Info Europe and the Network for Reporting on Eastern Europe n-ost. The project was supported by the Representative on Freedom of the Media of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. This toolkit is part of the Access Info Toolkits series, a set of guides on how to exercise the right of access to information.

This toolkit is designed for journalists working in any media – newspapers, radio, and television – as well as bloggers and other information professionals who need to get access to information held by public bodies for their stories. 
The toolkit is for journalists making requests in their own country or considering filing a request in another country. It is based on a comparative analysis of the access to information of the 42 countries of the Council of Europe region which have such laws. In many places in the text we have put references where national law or practice deviates from the normal access to information standards. For more detailed information on national law, links are given in Annex B to each of the national access to information laws  and in Annex C to the relevant oversight body (Information Commission or Ombudsman) , where they exist, who should be able to provide more information  about the national access to information framework.

Tags: Access to information Journalism education

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