Society of Professional Journalists: Letter urges President
Obama to be more transparent
At least our professional journalist organization gets it
and is standing-up for those of us in the trenches. This issue has quite a
trickle-down effect, if you will… When the national government can get away
with stone-walling the press – it emboldens state and local government to engage
in a “politically driven suppression of
news and information about” its actions and decisions.
Without accountability you get mediocrity.
Letter urges President
Obama to be more transparent
7/8/2014
President Barack Obama
The White House
Washington, D.C
July 8, 2014
Mr. President,
You recently expressed
concern that frustration in the country is breeding cynicism about democratic
government. You need look no further than your own administration for a major
source of that frustration – politically driven suppression of news and information
about federal agencies. We call on you to take a stand to stop the spin and let
the sunshine in.
Over the past two
decades, public agencies have increasingly prohibited staff from communicating
with journalists unless they go through public affairs offices or through
political appointees. This trend has been especially pronounced in the federal
government. We consider these restrictions a form of censorship -- an attempt
to control what the public is allowed to see and hear.
The stifling of free
expression is happening despite your pledge on your first day in office to
bring “a new era of openness” to federal government – and the subsequent
executive orders and directives which were supposed to bring such openness
about.
Recent research has
indicated the problem is getting worse throughout the nation, particularly at
the federal level. Journalists are reporting that most federal agencies
prohibit their employees from communicating with the press unless the bosses
have public relations staffers sitting in on the conversations. Contact is
often blocked completely. When public affairs officers speak, even about
routine public matters, they often do so confidentially in spite of having the
title “spokesperson.” Reporters seeking interviews are expected to seek
permission, often providing questions in advance. Delays can stretch for days,
longer than most deadlines allow. Public affairs officers might send their own
written responses of slick non-answers. Agencies hold on-background press
conferences with unnamed officials, on a not-for-attribution basis.
In many cases, this is
clearly being done to control what information journalists – and the audience
they serve – have access to. A survey found 40 percent of public affairs
officers admitted they blocked certain reporters because they did not like what
they wrote.
Some argue that
controlling media access is needed to ensure information going out is correct.
But when journalists cannot interview agency staff, or can only do so under
surveillance, it undermines public understanding of, and trust in, government.
This is not a “press vs. government” issue. This is about fostering a strong
democracy where people have the information they need to self-govern and trust
in its governmental institutions.
It has not always been
this way. In prior years, reporters walked the halls of agencies and called
staff people at will. Only in the past two administrations have media access
controls been tightened at most agencies. Under this administration, even
non-defense agencies have asserted in writing their power to prohibit contact
with journalists without surveillance. Meanwhile, agency personnel are free
speak to others -- lobbyists, special-interest representatives, people with
money -- without these controls and without public oversight.
Here are some recent
examples:
The New York Times ran
a story last December on the soon-to-be implemented ICD-10 medical coding
system, a massive change for the health care system that will affect the whole
public. But the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), one of the federal
agencies in charge of ICD-10, wouldn’t allow staff to talk to the reporter.
A reporter with
Investigative Post, an online news organization in New York, asked three times
without success over the span of six weeks to have someone at EPA answer questions
about the agency's actions regarding the city of Buffalo’s alleged mishandling
of “universal waste” and hazardous waste.
A journalist with
Reuters spent more than a month trying to get EPA’s public affairs office to
approve him talking with an agency scientist about the effects of climate
change. The public affairs officer did not respond to him after his initial
request, nor did her supervisor, until the frustrated journalist went over
their heads and contacted EPA’s chief of staff.
The undersigned
organizations ask that you seek an end to this restraint on communication in
federal agencies. We ask that you issue a clear directive telling federal
employees they’re not only free to answer questions from reporters and the
public, but actually encouraged to do so. We believe that is one of the most
important things you can do for the nation now, before the policies become even
more entrenched.
We also ask you
provide an avenue through which any incidents of this suppression of
communication may be reported and corrected. Create an ombudsman to monitor and
enforce your stated goal of restoring transparency to government and giving the
public the unvarnished truth about its workings. That will go a long way toward
dispelling Americans’ frustration and cynicism before it further poisons our
democracy.
Further examples on
the issue are provided as well as other resources.
Sincerely,
David Cuillier
President
Society of
Professional Journalists
spjdave@yahoo.com
Beth Parke
Executive Director
Society of
Environmental Journalists
bparke@sej.org
Kathryn Foxhall
Member
Society of
Professional Journalists
kfoxhall@verizon.net
Holly Spangler
President
American Agricultural
Editors’ Association
Gil Gullickson
Board Chair
American Agricultural
Editors’ Association Professional Improvement Foundation
Alexandra Cantor Owens
Executive Director
American Society of
Journalists and Authors
Janet Svazas
Executive Director
American Society of
Business Publication Editors
David Boardman
President
American Society of
News Editors
Hoda Osman
President
Arab and Middle
Eastern Journalists Association
Kathy Chow
Executive Director
Asian American
Journalists Association
Diana Mitsu Klos
Executive Director
Associated Collegiate
Press
Paula Poindexter
President
Association for
Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
Miriam Pepper
President
Association of Opinion
Journalists
Lisa Graves
Executive Director
Center for Media and
Democracy
Rachele Kanigel
President
College Media
Association
Gay Porter DeNileon
President
Colorado Press Women
Sue Udry
Executive Director
Defending Dissent
Foundation
Mark Newton
President
Journalism Education
Association
Mark Horvit
Executive Director
Investigative
Reporters and Editors
J.H. Snider
President
iSolon.org
Phyllis J. Griekspoor
President
North American
Agricultural Journalists
Carol Pierce
Executive Director
National Federation of
Press Women
Robert M. Williams Jr.
President
National Newspaper
Association
Bob Meyers
President
National Press
Foundation
Charles Deale
Executive Director
National Press
Photographers Association
Diana Mitsu Klos
Executive Director
National Scholastic
Press Association
Mary Hudetz
President
Native American
Journalists Association
Jane McDonnell
Executive Director
Online News
Association
Patrice McDermott
Executive Director
OpenTheGovernment.org
Tim Franklin
President
The Poynter Institute
Danielle Brian
Executive Director
Project on Government
Oversight
Jeff Ruch
Executive Director
Public Employees for
Environmental Responsibility
George Bodarky
President
Public Radio News
Directors Incorporated
Mike Cavender
Executive Director
Radio Television
Digital News Association
Herb Jackson
President
Regional Reporters
Association
Christophe Deloire
Secretary General
Reporters without
Borders
Frank LoMonte
Executive Director
Student Press Law
Center
Roy S. Gutterman
Director
Tully Center for Free
Speech at Syracuse University
David Steinberg
President
UNITY Journalists for
Diversity
*****
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