President Obama defended his administration’s record on dealing with the press in the wake of the controversy after one of his top national security aides admitted that he created an “echo chamber” to help sell the public on the Iran nuclear deal.
“Well, look, I am a strong believer in the First Amendment and the need for journalists to pursue every lead and every angle,” the president said in an interview with The Targum, Rutgers’ student newspaper, that was posted Thursday.
The student newspaper’s Editor-in-Chief Dan Corey secured an interview with Obama during an April 28 visit to the White House for the first-ever College Reporter Day April 28. The interview occurred Monday, and The Targum posted a full transcript Thursday in advance of Obama’s commencement address at Rutgers this weekend.
The editor noted that the Obama administration has been more severe in prosecuting government employees who leaked information to journalists compared to previous presidents. He then asked what Obama’s view of journalists’ role in U.S. politics in light of the recent news that Ben Rhodes, his deputy national security adviser, had boasted of relying on young and inexperienced reporters and sympathetic think tanks to help create an “echo chamber” to sell the Iran deal.
Obama played down criticism during his presidency that he has used the Espionage Act to go after government whistleblowers who leaked to journalists seven times, more than several previous administrations combined.
“I think that when you hear stories about us cracking down on whistleblowers or whatnot, we’re talking about a really small sample,” he said. “Many of the cases that are often lumped into you know, my ledger, essentially were cases that were brought before we came into office.”
“Some of them are serious, where you had purposeful leaks of information that could harm or threaten operations or individuals who were in the field involved with really sensitive national security issues,” he added.
More generally, Obama said he has consistently advocated for “maximum freedom of the press.”
“And what I’ve found personally is that, although there are times [when] it can be frustrating for a president or an administration where you feel as if the way something is reported is not accurate or is sensationalized, it is greatly preferable to the alternative,” he added. “And that is something that I think we have to continue to fight for and uphold.”
