The Freedom of Information Index was 'born' when I produced a radio feature story on the Australian federal election in 1998 for the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation. I was working as a full-time freelance journalist at the time.

As part of the story I was trying to access what I thought was pretty 'benign' information on boundaries for electorates. It took me weeks to get the information from various government departments. It occurred to me that seemingly mature democracies have a very different view of what government-held information was public.

As it turns out FOI is a very potent measure of how serious a country is regarding the flow of public information. This is in turn an important indicator of the general health of one of the core issues in a functioning democracy - political accountability.

This lead to the initial comparative study between Sweden and Western Australia. During the literature review it became clear that few comprehensive studies of FOI in an international perspective existed - enter 'Keeping the Bastards Honest - the Promise and Practice of Freedom of Information Legislation.' This project became the pilot-study of the FOI Index methodology. What makes the FOI Index unique is that it also evaluates the situation for whistleblowers and the options, if any, for journalists to protect their sources, commonly know as shield laws for journalists.

See whistleblowers for more info.

To the left you can access the two initial studies. Further articles you will find under publications.