"I can't remember any time when regional and national editors and broadcast and print are all completely at one," said the Guardian editor, Alan Rusbridger.

“The Department of Constitutional Affairs (DCA) wants to restrict freedom of information (FOI) requests to save £10m,” The Guardian reported.

The FOI Act was passed in 2000 to help the public and journalists get access to public interest information.

"Nobody could call these requests irresponsible or time-wasting. They were legitimate enquiries by reporters on stories where disclosure served the public well — just the sort of thing the Act was designed to enable,” said Rusbridger in an article in the Press Gazette.

Baroness Ashton rejected proposals to exempt journalists from the policy change or to charge corporations for the extra costs of FOI requests.

Since FOI requests are blind, Ashton believed it was wrong to exempt a particular category, such as journalists. She also evoked the difficulty of defining the journalist status.

The DCA proposes to reject FOI request that cost over £600 to process for government departments (£450 for others).

"It was remarkable that she had united the entire British press and every British editor in opposition to what she had done," Mr Rusbridger.

Editors didn’t seem satisfied when they left the meeting. Media have until March 8 to voice their objections.

Source: Media Guardian - Press Gazette