If you didn't know the phrase "A Right to Know" before 2008, chances are you're well acquainted with it now.

On January 21, The Royal Gazette launched a campaign to get a freedom of information law passed in Bermuda — and soon even Premier Ewart Brown was name checking it at press conferences.

But it was another PLP politician who helped kick-start our push to get the Island legislation which scores of countries around the world have already adopted, including fellow small jurisdictions like Cayman and Antigua.

Former Premier Alex Scott promised a public access to information (PATI) law in 2003 when he was in charge and remains as enthusiastic about it to this day.

He helped launch our campaign by posing on the steps outside the House of Assembly with a copy of the discussion paper he asked Government's Central Policy Unit (CPU) to produce on the topic.

Backbench MP Mr. Scott told us: "It certainly is an idea whose time has come. I hope that we do move on ahead with some form of freedom of information or PATI. I hope it's something that there is little or no resistance to."

He wasn't the only person locally to support us — right from the start we had community members behind us such as former Anglican Bishop Ewen Ratteray, Bermuda National Trust director Jennifer Gray, teachers' union leader Mike Charles, former Opposition UBP leader Grant Gibbons, columnist and journalist Tom Vesey, lawyer Tim Marshall, environmentalist Stuart Hayward and US Consul Gregory Slayton.

There was backing from overseas too — we received messages of encouragement from, among others, the National Freedom of Information Coalition in the US, the Cayman Islands' FOI coordinator and the Carter Center human rights organisation, which helped Jamaica implement its PATI law.

Most importantly, our readers told us they liked what we were trying to achieve. After all, the campaign's full title — A Right to Know: Giving People Power — made clear that having access to Government-held information about matters which affect their lives could only be a good thing for the public.

The campaign had a wider aim too — to promote a culture of openness and transparency in all publicly-funded bodies and get them to open their doors to the people for the first time.

As 2008 got under way, our campaign began to get talked about in the highest places.

Two Independent Senators — Alf Oughton and Walwyn Hughes — gave their approval in February, along with Opposition Senate Leader Michael Dunkley, who talked about transparency during his maiden speech in the Upper House.

March came and brought with it Sunshine Week. This newspaper got on board a US initiative promoting public access to information and open government.

Beginning March 17, we published articles for a week focusing on the importance of transparency, accountability and giving taxpayers the ability to get hold of information which belongs to them. We even persuaded some of our readers to wear yellow for a day in support of A Right to Know.

UBP MP John Barritt, whose party has pushed for PATI for several years, wrote in a guest column: "For anyone trying to understand what all the fuss about freedom of information is, they should ask themselves one question: Would you prefer to know or to not know about things that can affect your life?"

By July, the PLP caucus put the topic of PATI on its agenda for discussion and Britain's Foreign Affairs Committee published a report urging the British Government to "strongly encourage" all its territories to bring in FOI.

Bermuda was singled out in the 171-page document as needing to strengthen its transparency measures and stop holding parliamentary committee meetings in secret.

Two welcome signs that the Island's culture of secrecy was changing came in the autumn. Stanley Lowe, the Speaker of the House of Assembly, announced in September that the new Joint Select Committee on Education would be allowed to hold its meetings in public, after a request from chairman Neletha Butterfield.

Mr. Lowe described it as a "landmark decision" and said the Rules and Privileges Committee was considering allowing the same for all parliamentary committees. Just over a month later, the publicly funded Corporation of Hamilton started publishing its decisions for the first time in its 213-year history.

More good news came in November when Attorney General Kim Wilson revealed that Government lawyers had begun drafting a freedom of information law for Bermuda as a "priority".

James Ferguson, at the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative's Access to Information Programme, wrote to us in November following the news.

"I want to congratulate your team at The Royal Gazette for this great PATI development!" said his e-mail. "The article has been circulated across our offices in Delhi, Accra, and London, and I've sent news to some of my colleagues in Canada. I really hope the Government follows through with this."

PATI – A year in quotes

"It's a case of co-operation and communication between the Government and the public it serves. It's all part and parcel of putting the rights of the public in the hands of a structure so that, no matter who the government is, the public's interests and rights are served. It is not my intention to criticise government for whatever it has done or hasn't done since we tabled the green paper in 2005."

— Former Progressive Labour Party Premier Alex Scott helps launch The Royal Gazette's call for Public Access to Information to be included in the February 2008 Throne Speech, which ultimately fell on deaf ears.

"It always takes a significant amount of time to draft new legislation and PATI legislation is even more laborious than most because it's such a comprehensive task. Nonetheless, the process of making it a reality is happening consistently and without fanfare — alongside a litany of other government business."

— Premier Ewart Brown's Press Secretary Glenn Jones explains why there is no sign of PATI three years after Mr. Scott's green paper was tabled.

"My biggest concern is that the Premier's critics do not use this very good idea to bash him with. It will not move their case forward. I do not think that for the Premier's critics to demand that the PLP put it in the Throne Speech is necessarily likely to work."

— PLP stalwart Eva Hodgson warns The Royal Gazette's campaign may not influence Premier Ewart Brown in the way the newspaper hopes.

"Is PATI Necessary? The recent advocacy of the daily for swift action on PATI is interesting. Suffice to say that the matter will be given the consideration it deserves in the appropriate place at the appropriate time."

— The PLP's February 2008 newsletter shortly after the A Right To Know campaign is launched.

"When our position on PATI is taken into consideration you might realise, as many have, that The Royal Gazette's campaign was a campaign without opposition."

— The Premier in a letter to Inter American Press Association president Earl Maucker, who had publicly urged the Premier not to withdraw official advertising from The Royal Gazette as a weapon of reprisal in response to the A Right To Know campaign.

"If we are going to be putting pressure on other agencies and organisations to be transparent we want to make sure that we are doing the same ourselves."

— Senator Walwyn Hughes comments on Government's plans to demand greater accountability and transparency from the Corporations of St. George's and Hamilton without introducing the same measures to itself.

"We have seen periods of time where information has just been shut down and that's just not good. But if you give people the information they can't speculate as to what you might be hiding."

— Opposition Leader Kim Swan backs PATI.

"I'm a senior and a hardworking payer of taxes. I would like the right to know."

— Royal Gazette reader Monica Berry gives her support to Sunshine Week.

"I don't need no legislation to make me truthful and I don't think this government needs legislation. I am offended by a campaign that is considered in our right to know."

— Vocal opponent of Sunshine Week, PLP Senator David Burch, explains why he thinks calls for transparency are "foolishness".

"When I read where your cry baby politicians in Bermuda complain about something some of you journalists have written about them in one of your papers, and some even threaten to have you deported if you are not a bona fide Bermudian, I find it laughable. In the US, the media can publish just about anything that comes into its possession, even secret government documents."

— American-based Royal Gazette reader Phil Spurlin points to differing approaches to freedom of information between the US and Bermuda.