Media update

Open Secrets (BBC) - A year has passed

Open Secrets (BBC) - FOI for ministers


Islamic Republic News Agency - Blair tried to stop ElBaradei's re-election - report
"Prime Minister Tony Blair last year tried to prevent Mohammed ElBaradei being re-elected for a third term as the the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), according to classified documents. Documents obtained by Scotland on Sunday newspaper under Britain's Freedom of Information Act show that the UK government continually refused to commit itself to supporting El Baradei as he approached the end of his second term."

Independent- Grouse moors: Under fire
"While in County Durham, the problem is particularly acute: less than one third of all the SSSIs in the Land of the Prince Bishops are in target condition, thanks chiefly to decades of inappropriate management of the moors. And using the Freedom of Information Act, The Independent on Sunday has discovered that more than £1.1m has been paid in the last year to local moor owners, sheep farmers and managers who control these SSSIs to improve their land."

Hold the frontpage - FOI investigation shows regional jobs pledge is a 'sham'
"Daily Post assistant news editor David Higgerson put in Freedom of Information requests to every Government department, and discovered that none of them could confirm a single job that had transferred to Merseyside."

IC North Wales - A5 dangers were known for 4 years
"Clwyd West MP David Jones said the news - revealed to him in response to a request under the Freedom of Information Act - strengthened calls for compensation to be paid to firms which had suffered loss of business as a result of the road's sudden closure."