Cook Islands: The Cook Islands News and the genesis of FOI

Abstract

Commentary: The Cook Islands News is challenging the Prime Minister and his Cabinet for maintaining secrecy and nondisclosure around all of Cabinet’s business in spite of the country’s Official Information Act. And the newspaper is fighting several defamation actions which in legal fees are chewing up the equivalent of a whole annual salary for a senior journalist. This is a waste of limited resources, but the cost of being a ‘free press’.