Let an interest be disclosed at once. As withholding information is in the interest of the bureaucrat, the right to having it is in the interest, above all, of the media. It is hard to imagine a species that would be happier not only if this paranoid law met its end but also if a sensible law on the right to information took its place. Yet there is a world of difference between the two kinds of vested interest, the one being to the detriment of democracy and transparency, the other being in the interest of all of the people. Of course governments must have some right to secrecy if they are to function at all.
International negotiations are a peculiarly apt example.
If the government is obliged to disclose bargaining and negotiating positions every step of the way,there is no doubt which way such negotiations would end. There is the other argument that if bureaucrats were forced to reveal their every action and decision they would be even more timid. This is nonsense. The only actions they would be deterred from would be questionable ones, and that is no bad thing. That would make them a bulwark against political abuse, not collaborators in it.