BBC protected by FOI

So the BBC clings onto the shirt tails of the Freedom of Information Act.On Friday the corporation won the right to keep its report on the coverage of the Middle East secret.

For those who have not been following the case,the corporation commissioned the internal report in 2004 and Michael Balen put together the report after watching hundreds of hours of television and radio reports.

The judge in the case found that the BBC were exempt because they were covered by the exemption that denies public access where the informatio is held for the purposes of art,literature and most importantly journalism.

Whether Steven Sugar is successful in his appeal to the new Chairman,Sir Michael Lyons,the BBC probaly feel vindicated by the report from last year when it was cleared of systematic bias in its reportng of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

What this means for FOI is unclear.Chris Tythorn writing in Media Guardian describes the ruling as having

"dealt a further blow to freedom of information campaigners"

The BBC after all is a public body as well as an artistic corporation the BBC maintains the report was purely internal

"We believe that programme-makers must have the space to be able to freely discuss and reflect on editorial issues in support of independent journalism,"