Dozens of journalist and open government groups implied this week that President Obama has failed to live up to his promise to be the most open government in history, and called on him to make the workings of the federal government more accessible to journalists and watchdogs.
“When you first entered office you pledged to become the most transparent president in history,” they wrote. “It is not too late to fulfill that promise.”
The Society of Professional Journalists and 52 other groups asked Obama to change policies such as “prohibiting journalists from communicating with staff without going through public information offices, requiring government [public information officers] to vet interview questions and monitoring interviews between journalists and sources.”
The groups first asked for the policy changes last summer. The groups said White House press secretary Josh Earnest offered a response to their complaints last year that “failed to address these issues, and said more needs to be done.
“The public has a right to be alarmed by these constraints — essentially forms of censorship — that have surged at all levels of government in the past few decades,” they wrote.
“President Obama pledged to lead the most transparent administration in history but we have yet to see this promise fulfilled,” said the Society of Professional Journalists’ David Cuillier. “His term may be coming to a close, but it’s not too late to make some real changes in the way officials work with journalists to improve the accuracy and speed in which important information is relayed to the public.”
The letter outlines the following transgressions that the groups say are tantamount to censorship: reporters blocked from speaking to specific government staffers, delays in responding to interview requests, giving information on “background” only and blackballing critical reporters.
Read it here:
