Transparency in Politics and the Media Accountability and Open Government

by Bowles, Nigel; Hamilton, James T; Levy, David

• ISBN13: 9781780766768
• ISBN10: 1780766769
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2013-12-05
• Publisher: I. B. Tauris

Summary

Increasingly governments around the world are experimenting with initiatives in transparency or 'open government'. These involve a variety of measures including the announcement of more user-friendly government websites, greater access to government data, the extension of freedom of information legislation and broader attempts to involve the public in government decision making. However, the role of the media in these initiatives has not hitherto been examined. This volume analyses the challenges and opportunities presented to journalists as they attempt to hold governments accountable in an era of professed transparency. In examining how transparency and open government initiatives have affected the accountability role of the press in the US and the UK, it also explores how policies in these two countries could change in the future to help journalists hold governments more accountable. This volume will be essential reading for all practicing journalists, for students of journalism or politics, and for policymakers.

Author Biography

Nigel Bowles is Director of the Rothermere American Institute, University of Oxford, UK.

James T. Hamilton is Charles S. Sydnor Professor of Public Policy, and Professor of Political Science and Economics at Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy and Director of the DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy.

David A. L. Levy is Director of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, University of Oxford, UK.

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Defining Transparency and Open Government
2. Before Transparency: Disclosure as Political and Cultural Practice 1960s-1980s
3. The Impact of the Freedom of Information Act in the UK
4. Impact of Transparency on Accountability
5. Impact of Transparency on Accountability
6. Transparency and Public Policy: Where Open Government Fails Accountability
7. Media Transparency and Accountability
8. Transparency John Lloyd, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism
9. 'Truth Vigilantes': On Journalism and Transparency
10. Making Sense of Records and Data
11. The Transparency Opportunity: Holding Power to Account – or Making Power Accountable?
12. Making Sense of Records and Data
13. Valuing Transparency in Government and the Media
14. Valuing Transparency in Government and Media
15. Corporations and Transparency: Improving Consumer Markets and Increasing Public Accountability Joel Gurin, Federal Communications Commission
16. Rise of NGOs and Nonprofit Media
17. The Rise of NGOs and Nonprofit Media
18. Policy Hurdles to Transparency
19. Keeping American Accountability Journalism Alive
20. Data, Data Everywhere: Open Data versus Big Data in the Quest for Transparency