LFB Scholarly

"Accessible even for a non-human rights lawyer....a notable achievement....an entree to literally a world of information." -- Journal of Information Policy
"Offers a model of careful research and deploys a wide range of international jurisprudence....A excellent resource for all law libraries." -- Law Library Journal

Description

Conceptualizing access to government information as a human right is a new development in the global trend promoting institutional transparency. Bishop provides a comprehensive examination of international human rights law and explains four conceptualizations of access to information as a human right. Rights to information have been linked to the right to free expression, the right to privacy, and the right to a healthy environment, and the right to the truth about human rights abuses. She concludes that a human right to access information is evolving in disparate ways. The current evolution of access rights creates a patchwork system of guarantees; nonetheless, the freedom-of-expression conceptualization holds the most promise for proving a broad right of access.

About the Author

Cheryl Ann Bishop is an Assistant Professor in the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University where she teaches communication law and international communication. She received her Ph.D. in Mass Communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her M.A. in Journalism from the University of Missouri at Columbia. Her research explores communication issues from a human rights perspective.