Journalist's FOI request about himself in Tribunal's hands 11 August 2008 A journalist's Freedom of Information request about the handling of his own previous requests is to be decided by the Information Tribunal after Government ministers blocked it. Matt Davis of Brighton-based John Connor Press Associates filed the request with the Home Office, seeking any internal correspondence about his previous requests. "I have long suspected that the Home Office have been dealing with me – because I use the Act on a large scale – differently than general members of the public," said Davis. Davis said his concerns were raised in 2006 when he and a colleague based in Australia submitted identical requests to the Home Office about compensation payments made to prisoners – and received different responses. "I suspect that somewhere, someone has said 'if you get a request from John Connor Press Associates, put it in the slow tray', or something like that," said Davis. "I believe that my requests are being red-flagged, and they shouldn't be because requests under FoI are applicant blind, so it shouldn't matter if it's me, David Cameron, Tony Blair or whoever that's asking the question – they should be treated exactly the same." Full Article: http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=41853&c=1
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