Freedom of Information Act misused, says Falconer

Ministers were yesterday accused of adopting a "bunker" mentality after the Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer, launched an all-out assault on the media over its alleged misuse of the freedom of information laws.

Lord Falconer last night told journalists that they must stop using the Freedom of Information Act to mount fishing expeditions aimed at uncovering stories about the government.

He said the law, brought in two years ago, was primarily for the public and not for newspapers and broadcasters. The government is already considering measures which would restrict the number and type of requests for information made by the media, MPs and lobby groups.

Lord Falconer, giving the Lord Williams of Mostyn memorial lecture, said: "The Government approaches openness on the basis of improving how government operates, for the benefit of the public. Many sections of the press do not approach it in that way. Instead, many approach it on the basis of what gives them most information exclusive to their journalistic outlet."

He added: "The job of the Government is not to provide page leads for the papers, but information for the citizen. Freedom of information was never considered to be, and for our part will never be considered to be, a research arm for the media."

But human rights lawyers and open-government campaigners accused Lord Falconer of paranoia.

Maurice Frankel, the director of the Campaign for the Freedom of Information, whose efforts helped persuade Labour of the need for the legislation more than 10 years ago, described Lord Falconer's views as "wacky".

He said: "This is evidence of sensitivity among ministers and a bunker attitude where there is a perception that the media are winged predators."

He added: "They may be right that the press is out to get them but that is the nature of our democracy. What they don't seem to recognise is that the media publishes material from which the public benefits."

Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, said: "How ironic that a Government that so attacks the privacy of the person now defends the secrecy of government."

But Lord Falconer, who has cabinet responsibility for the FOI Act, denied that the new measures targeted the media specifically. Instead he repeated findings contained in government commissioned research that showed journalists account for about 16 per cent of the total costs of central government FOI requests - at a cost of around £4m.

"Our recent study into the economic impact of FOI has revealed that since the act came into force we have subsidised BBC research to the tune of about £1m a year," he remarked.

Revealed by the FOI

* 74 Met police officers have criminal records

* Six military policemen died at the hands of an Iraqi mob because reinforcements thought it too dangerous to rescue them

* Lord Falconer had 13 meetings with Americans planning a casino at the Millennium Dome

* Some of Britain's most prestigious restaurants failed health checks

* MPs claimed £ 5.9m in expenses for travel

* Robert Maxwell was being investigated for war crimes when he died