11/03/2008

Scotland’s freedom of information commissioner, Kevin Dunion, has appealed to journalists to take care in both asking for and in the use of material released under the powers of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act.

In an interview in The Sunday Times Scotland, on the eve of the publication of his review of 2007, Dunion said: “There’s no doubt, to be frank, that journalists are the group that most disgruntle public officials. One, because of the volume of information they request. And two, because they get the information, decide there’s no story and make no use of it whatsoever - so the official thinks that a lot of public expense has gone into finding the information.

“At a human level, I entirely understand that. At a professional level, however, I believe that journalists are the backbone of any FOI regime. But I would like to see journalists making use of the information in a way that engages with the genuinely difficult dilemmas that governments face.”

Since he took up his post four years ago, Dunion’s decisions  have been immensely helpful to Scottish journalism. They led to former Scottish Tory leader, David McLetchie, resigning three years ago after his taxi expenses were revealed under FOI by the Sunday Herald’s political editor, Paul Hutcheon.

Speaking in general terms, Dunion told the Sunday Times Scotland: “We’ve got to move into the mindset that it’s not acceptable to justify keeping things secret only for administrative convenience or to avoid embarrassment or controversy.

“Of course, there are things that need to be kept secret, but officials, ministers and politicians too often say: ‘It’s terribly important that we are given space to think about things, and if we put everything in the public domain, we’d have to rush decisions or not look at unpalatable options.'”

Dunion said he understood the mindset, but added: “I don’t think that there should be one ton on one side of the scales, with a feather on the other side for public interest, in disclosure. I’m trying to get that balance more properly considered and we’re making some headway.”

Dunion, 52, is a former editor of Radical Scotland, the influential but now defunct magazine that pressed for devolution in the 1980s. He has also worked for Oxfam and Friends of the Earth.

According to the Sunday Times Scotand, “though previously a member of both the SNP and Labour, his current political views are inscrutable. He persuaded his bosses to allow him to run the commission from St Andrews, well away  from the political cabals of Holyrood and the municipal machine politics of Glasgow”.


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