Secrecy

FCC Killed the Radio Study (But Will Now Investigate)

by Diane Farsetta — September 20, 2006 - 11:35am

U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chair Kevin Martin has launched investigations into two reports on media ownership by FCC staff that were never released. One study found that local ownership of TV stations correlates with more news coverage.

Main Source: 
Broadcasting & Cable, September 19, 2006

Scary Evidence

by Bob Burton — September 16, 2006 - 4:45am

British Columbia's Deputy Minister of Health, Gordon Macatee, ordered a lunchtime presentation on disease mongering cancelled until a drug industry speaker could be added.

Main Source: 
Monday Magazine (Canada), September 13, 2006

Spinning an Iraq Oil Kickbacks Confession

by Bob Burton — August 11, 2006 - 3:30am

Faced with a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the payment of approximately $A300 million in kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's government, in breach of the United Nations' Iraq Oil-for-Food Program, the Australian wheat trader AWB Limited hired

Main Source: 
News.com.au (Australia), August 10, 2006

Media Cover For Minister's Rescue

by Bob Burton — July 31, 2006 - 5:26am

Federal police have raided the home of a government employee seeking computer and other records indicating whether Ms. Tjanara Goreng had contact with the newspaper, the (NIT).

Main Source: 
Sydney Morning Herald, July 29, 2006

FOIA's 40th Birthday Marked By Plans to Weaken It

by Bob Burton — July 7, 2006 - 4:51am

Jeffrey Addicott, Associate Professor of Law and the Director of the Center for Terrorism Law at St. Mary’s University School of Law in San Antonio, Texas, will head a $1 million project funded by the U.S. government to produce a "model statute" to restrict information disclosed under the 40-year-old Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). "There's the public's right to know, but how much?" he told USA Today.

Main Source: 
USA Today, July 6, 2006

BAT Dodges Document Shredding Case

by Bob Burton — July 7, 2006 - 3:00am

British American Tobacco (BAT) reached an out of court settlement in a case that threatened to explore the company's "document retention policy," under which sensitive documents were shredded.

Main Source: 
Sydney Morning Herald, July 6 2006

BBC Archives Reveal Spooks Vetted Staff

by Bob Burton — July 5, 2006 - 4:14am

Archived internal BBC documents from the 1980's, obtained by The Sunday Telegraph under Freedom of Information legislation, reveal that the British spy service, MI5, was used to vet existing and potential staff at the public broadcaster. The paper reported that the documents revealed that "at one stage it [MI5] was responsible for vetting 6300 BBC posts - almost a third of the total workforce." The BBC adopted "categorical denial" as its "defensive strategy" to deflect questions about the practice by unions.

Main Source: 
Sydney Morning Herald, July 3, 2006

Big-Spending Brethren

by Bob Burton — July 5, 2006 - 4:08am

While members of the conservative Christian church, the Exclusive Brethren, are not allowed to vote, they have been big spenders in recent election campaigns in the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. They spent $NZ1.2 million in the 2005 New Zealand election, while in the 2004 US election their Thanksgiving 2004 Committee spent $US636,522.

Main Source: 
Sydney Morning Herald, July 1, 2006
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