Freedom of information and geographical practice

Abstract

Professional geographers are reliant for much of their research on information made available by government agencies and private corporations. The principal argument here is that much crucial information is either confidential, grossly distorted or totally suppressed. This means that geographers cannot always adequately perform one of their major professional responsibilities which is to comment critically on various developments taking place around them in the ‘real world’. The international freedom of information movement has developed and grown in response to the secrecy which characterises most liberal democracies around the world. Freedom of information legislation is discussed, together with a number of case studies illustrating the suppression and distortion of information. It is argued that the ‘openness’ of the ‘information environment’ within which geographers live and work has a significant impact on the kinds of research topics that are tackled.

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