This is taken from The Guardian:

Dyke files to remain under wraps

Chris Tryhorn
Friday February 17, 2006

The minutes of the BBC governors' meeting that sealed the fate of former director general Greg Dyke will remain secret, the information commissioner has ruled.

The commissioner, who oversees the implementation of the Freedom of Information Act, has turned down requests from the Guardian and author Heather Brooke to open the files for the meeting on January 28 2004.

"Although there is a clear public interest in information about what took place at this meeting, the release of the information contained in the minutes, beyond that which is already in the public domain, would be likely, in the commissioner's view, to have the effect of inhibiting free and frank discussions at any such meeting in the future," the commissioner's office said in its ruling.

The decision was based on "the reasonable opinion of a qualified person" - in this case, the BBC.

The BBC turned down earlier requests for details of the meeting made under the Freedom of Information Act, arguing it had been essential for governors to speak their mind in complete confidence.

The meeting in question was one of the most dramatic and politically charged in the BBC's history.

It was held in emergency session the day the Hutton report made stinging criticisms of the corporation's journalism and editorial structures, prompting Gavyn Davies to resign as BBC chairman.

The governors met to discuss the future of Mr Dyke and, as a result of the board's deliberations, he was forced out of his job the following day.

The information commissioner decided that it was essential that the meeting had been confidential.

"Those attending the meeting would either not have said some of what they said, or would have expressed their views in a more guarded manner, if they had expected those views to be made formally available beyond the confines of the meeting," the ruling noted.

Releasing details of the meeting now would prevent full discussion of a similar crisis in the future, the commissioner said.

Ms Brooke, who is working on a second edition of her book Your Right to Know, criticised the information commissioner's decision.

"This decision upholds the archaic belief that you can only have good decision making in secrecy," she said. "It has been proved time and again that it's a fallacy.

"The best decisions are made in the open because the people who are making them know they will have to be accountable for them.

"The governors have to be willing as leaders to take responsibility for the decisions they make. Unless the minutes are made public, you can't have any confidence they made a reasonable decision."

Both Ms Brooke and the Guardian are to appeal against the decision.