Companion website for
COMPARATIVE MEDIA LAW & ETHICS
by TIM CROOK
Published by Routledge on 15th December 2009
For details of the book, please visit Routledge.
Author's profile at Goldsmiths, University of London
Freedom of Information Legislation
Pages 19-21 (Referred to in Chapter 1) & 428-429. The US Supreme Court decided not to hear the case of ACLU v Department of Defense over prisoner abuse photographs and video because President Obama signed legislation in October 2009 that blocked the release of material depicting the abuse of detainees in U.S. custody. The new law means the Supreme Court would not hear an appeal over the legal issue of whether the photos should be disclosed to the public. Reports from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press in October and November 2009.
In November Supreme Court vacated and remanded a federal appeals court ruling that ordered the release of the images. The court ordered the appeals court to reconsider the case in light of a provision of the Homeland Security Appropriations Act signed into law by President Obama that specifically exempts the torture photos from disclosure.The Homeland Security Appropriations bill Obama signed grants the Department of Defense authority to withhold the photos.
Freedom of information: caught in the act. The UK Freedom of Information Act is five years old – a piece of groundbreaking legislation that has forced public bodies to reveal data they would really rather not
Ben Dowell The Guardian, Monday 4 January 2010.
