Your Right to Know: A Citizen's Guide to the Freedom of Information Act [Paperback]

Heather Brooke (Author), Ian Hislop (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 31, 2005 | ISBN-10: 0745322727 | ISBN-13: 978-0745322728

-- A popular guide to the Freedom of Information Act, now updated in a new edition -- Have you ever wanted to force open the secretive doors of government? This book provides all the tools you need. With a new foreword by Ian Hislop, it's also fully upda

Editorial Reviews

Review

"'This book is an invaluable tool enabling campaigners, lawyers and interested members of the public to negotiate the Freedom of Information Act.' Gareth Crossman, Head of Policy, Liberty"

About the Author

Heather Brooke is a campaigner for open government and a freelance writer with articles published in The Times, The Sunday Times, Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Independent, Evening Standard, New Statesman, BBC History and Journalist magazines. She was a runner-up for the inaugural Paul Foot award for investigative journalism. She has been interviewed on Sky news, The Politics Show on BBC One, BBC Radio 4 (The Message, You & Yours, The World Tonight), BBC Radio 5 Live, and BBC Radio Two’s Jeremy Vine show. Heather currently teaches the ‘FOIA and investigative journalism’ course for the National Union of Journalists. She has trained journalists at the Guardian, Financial Times, Independent, Trinity Mirror newspapers, BBC News and BBC World Service.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Pluto Press (January 31, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0745322727
• ISBN-13: 978-0745322728
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,332,267 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Heather Brooke worked as a political and crime reporter in the US before moving to Britain where she is now a freelance journalist and Freedom of Information campaigner. Her investigation into the expense accounts of Members of Parliament led to the biggest clear-out of politicians that country had seen in decades and the first forced resignation of the Speaker of the House in 300 years. She writes for all of the main UK national papers and has published three books.

Heather Brooke has won numerous awards including the Judges' Prize at the 2010 British Press Awards, the FOI Award from Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), and a Freedom of Expression Award from Index on Censorship. She is a visiting professor at London's prestigious Department of Journalism at City University.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An essential reference!, May 15, 2005

By 

Liam Hogan - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Your Right to Know: A Citizen's Guide to the Freedom of Information Act (Paperback)

In the spirit of FOI, I have to admit upfront that I know the author. That said, this isn't going to be a "rush out and read this book" sycophantic review. Mainly because this isn't the sort of book you want to read cover to cover; instead, treat it as a reference guide. As such it is very detailed, there are contact details (including named individuals where appropriate) for every public authority in Britain, an essential first step if you are going to try and get any information out of them! These details change, and this book was launched before the act came into force, and for that reason the author maintains a website of changes and experiences at www.yrtk.org.

Now, while I say this isn't the sort of book you'll read cover to cover, it's worth digging in a bit whatever your interest, because in addition to being a reference guide to all the FOI contacts, it also describes and explains what these public authorities do. And since there are more than 100,000 of them, I found it quite an eye opener on the scale of our government! These sections generally preface each chapter, with the latter half being the contact details.

All of which would still make the book fairly dry and academic to the average reader, but the author also compares and contrasts the degree of freedom of Information between Britain and the US, which shows how far we have yet to go.

Which makes this book both informative, disturbing, and an essential reference for anyone contemplating a FOI request!