[Gayle]

I agree with you - they use 'Freedom of Information' as an excuse.

They use the phrase 'right to know' but surely it should be 'need to know'. I agree if there is an abuse of the council resources or if investigations are not being handled correctly then yes, quite probably we have a right to know. But excessive media coverage about something, particularly an ongoing police enquiry, can damage the findings.

It would certainly ensure that there wouldn't be a fair trial at the end of it because you wouldn't get an unbiased view of it - we're going to get to the stage where court cases have to be held in a different country in order to find jurors who haven't already been influenced by reading the paper.