KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – The Jamaica-based Media Institute of the Caribbean (MIC) Monday launched the Freedom of Information Help Desk and Advocacy tool kit, which it said represents a milestone in Freedom of Information (FOI) and Access to Information in the Pan-Caribbean region.
“The result of the necessity for journalists in the region to have better support and advice in an era where investigative journalism underpins our democracy and where the propagation of disinformation plagues our societies,” said MIC President Kiran Maharaj.
UK AID funds the FOI project, and MIC said the initiative was launched virtually during the second seminar of the four-part workshop series on FOI and ATI.
It said the Help Desk is a cloud-based, secure platform for journalists, civil society organizations, and private individuals to submit their FOI / ATI requests to MIC.
“These requests would be reviewed by MIC’s support staff who will provide guidance to and advise applicants on how to address denials, implement follow-up actions, and any other course of action,” MIC said, adding that it guarantees strict confidentiality “as we commit to ensuring the safety of individuals contact information and related correspondence.”
The Help Desk is one aspect of MIC’s FOI project, which seeks to monitor and document press freedom violations in the English-speaking Pan-Caribbean region.
It is intended to provide advisory legal opinions to journalists when this freedom is being violated or is in danger; be a strong voice of advocacy for the protection of freedom of the press by providing recommendations for policy framework and legislation for Freedom of Information and Access To Information; and provide a coordinating mechanism to help enforce the right to freedom of the press by working with civil society and key stakeholders to develop recommendations and provide public information.
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