6 months Ago
Worries Over Motions That Might Curtail Transparency
The Dutch Society of Editors-in-Chief, the Dutch Association of Journalists (NVJ), the Association of Investigative Journalists (VVOJ) and the Open State Foundation have warned that narrowing the WOO would come at a time when misinformation, polarisation, and loss of trust on the part of the public are mounting. They said the law had to be used "freely and broadly" for transparency to be secured.
One contentious proposal by the PVV is to get rid of the penalty system to punish the government if it doesn't answer information requests on time. Without penalties like those, the organizations say, the government would have no impetus to comply with the legal deadlines.
A second motion, from the SGP, would see the identities of those who submit WOO requests become public. The organizations were flatly against it, seeing it as a threat to the right to ask for information without having to identify oneself and without fear of retaliation.
A Demand for Better Implementation, Not Restraint
The journalists groups were critical of the WOO, though, and opposed the restrictive motions. They called for parliament to concentrate on how the law can be best implemented – and said the "indispensable raw materials" for an informed public and political discussion are already in place. The public has a right to first-hand information — from the government no less! — on which to judge Government behaviour in order to responsibly exercise their democratic right to hold the government to account they said in their submission.
