Freedom of Information requests are a powerful tool to expose the relationship between the state and outside interests, including big business, powerful individuals, and even the religious lobby. Our ...
Helen Darbishire
Founder and director of Access Info Europe, Helen Darbishire is a human rights activist specialising in the right of access to information (freedom of information). She is a member of the Steering Committee of the Open Government Partnership and the Board of the International Open Data Charter. Helen has advised organizations such as UNESCO, the Council of Europe, the OSCE and the World Bank.
She holds a degree in Philosophy of Science and Psychology from Durham University, United Kingdom. Resident in Madrid, she speaks English, French and Spanish.
In only 8 of 31 European countries can the public find out who the media owners are (Media Pluralism Monitor 2017). And even when the information is available, it often comes at a cost, both in terms ...
Legal leaks: inspiring stories on the art of using access to information (FOI) laws
This panel will guide journalists through the art of using access to information (FOI) laws, with tips on how to integrate requests for documents into your research plan, how to draft requests, where ...
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) has become an important working tool for journalists in all countries where it was introduced, from the US to Britain. Three months after the first Italian FOIA b...
Finally, Italy has a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). But how many journalists know how to use it effectively among quibbles and exceptions? Find out in a practical workshop with some of the leadin...
Has Italy become more transparent with the adoption of the Freedom of Information Act? The NGO Diritto di Sapere has field-tested the effectiveness of the new law with hundreds of requests addressed ...
With the implementation of so-called Madia Law, the Italian government has approved a major overhaul of access to information, inspired by the US Freedom of Information Act with greater protection f...
With publication imminent by Chiarelettere of the book Silenzi di Stato, dieci storie di trasparenza negata e di cittadini che non si arrendono (State Silences: ten stories about denied transparenc...
With just 60 days to go before the first presentation of the draft text for an Italian FOIA before the Italian Parliament, a discussion on the proposal and associated issues.
Do lobbies not exist? Technically, this is the situation in several European countries, including Italy. The reality is quite different. Many interest groups put pressure on legislative activities, wi...
From Watergate to ghost flights, the Freedom of Information Act has allowed journalists and citizens access to vital information. In Italy, there is no law of this kind. Other than the new regulations...
From Watergate to phantom flights, the Freedom of Information Act has allowed journalists access to important information. In Italy an FIA does not exist – and neither (yet) does a jornalistic/ins...
Towards an Italian FOIA Italy has no Freedom of Information Act (or similar). The new Diritto di Sapere project seeks to highlight the need for major reform of the law on the right of access to inf...
Diving into Data: The School of Data Journalism at the International Journalism Festival in Perugia In the past investigative reporters would suffer from a scarcity of information relating to quest...
