A brief report on right to information in South Asia as seen by SAARC Journalist Summit-IV and the South Asia Media Commission Conference-II participant. By Muhammad Zamir.

On August 11, 2008, the Buckeye Institute has launched its Center for Transparent and Accountable Government.
The Center will be directed by Michael Maurer, and has two opening initiatives. The first is a “Pledge for Transparency and Accountability in Government,” a pledge that will be distributed to candidates running for any elective office at all levels of Ohio government. The second initiative is a wiki site, www.ohiosunshine.org, which will enable Ohioans to monitor how well state and more...

The 'Report of the Independent Audit into the State of Free Speech in Australia' makes for disturbing reading. The hefty report chronicles an increasing culture of secrecy and legislation limiting freedom of expression in the country, according to Australia's Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) and ARTICLE 19.

In order for citizens to engage in public debate and to hold their governments and others accountable, key elements of living in a participatory democracy, citizens must have access to free, pluralistic, independent and professional media. The idea that communication and dialogue between different members of society will occur naturally cannot be taken for granted, and the media provide a means of access to information and igniting dialogue.

Beijing's Olympic organizers are reneging on their promises to give journalists full Internet access when covering the Games, blocking websites in the Main Press Centre and other venues where reporters will work, report the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Reporters without Borders (RSF), the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and news reports

The Freedom of Information Acts (FOI) allowing public access to government records is described as a 'haphazard construction' among the states according to a recent study undertaken by the Better Government Association (BGA) and the National Freedom of Information Coalition (NFOIC).
The study went on to report that 38 of the 50 states have a grade of 'F' in overall responses to FOI requests. The results of the study were published by www.Todayscandidates.com on July 19, 2008. 'Todayscandidates more...

Official representatives from Cook Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu, gathered in Honiara, Solomons Islands for a three-day meeting (June-July 2008) to discuss the value and relevance of freedom of information for Forum Island Countries, a milestone for implementation in the Pacific Plan endorsed by Pacific Islands Forum Leaders in 2005. This is the Fiinal Outcomes Statement.

This book by Steve Buckley, Kreszentia Duer, Toby Mendel and Seán Ó Siochrú with Monroe E. Price and Marc Raboy provides guidelines, tools, and real world examples to help assess and reform the enabling environment for media development that serves public interest goals. It builds on a growing awareness of the role of media and voice in the promotion of transparent and accountable governance, in the empowerment of people to better exercise their rights and hold leaders to account; and in supp more...

World Information Access (WIA) Report is produced by the World Information Access Project, made up of interdisciplinary research teams at the University of Washington. Their goal “is to provide a current, straightforward and accessible analysis of important world trends” and the report is intended “to contribute to the current academic debate regarding technology access as it relates to development.” Jne 2008.

UNESCO Office in New Delhi has released Open Access to Knowledge and Information: Scholarly Literature and Digital Library Initiatives – the South Asian Scenario. This book illustrates South Asian initiatives on open access to information and knowledge. The book describes successful digital library and open access initiatives in the South Asia sub-region that are available in the forms of open courseware, open access journals, metadata harvesting services, national-level open access repositori more...