To the SPJ Board:
The issue of forcing reporters to go through agency press offices to speak to staff in federal agencies is getting attention.
As indicated below, an investigation by the Columbia Review of Journalism as put a spotlight on this. At the same time, the Department of Health and Human Services has issued a media policy which, apparently for the first time in history, puts in writing that reporters and staff members are forbidden to speak to each other without reporting to the authorities.
Note the coverage by prominent media commentator Jim Romenesko, below.
Now there is a session at the National Press Club Monday that is an offshoot of the CRJ article and it will focus at least in part on the "minders" issue. I'm doing some work on getting the word out about this. From the emails and other discussion I'm seeing, I think it's gone viral with great interest in the session among specialized reporters and others.
The announcement I've sent out is below. Let know if you have any questions.
Kathryn Foxhall
301 779 8239
We are getting much more public notice on the issue of forcing reporters to go through the PR office to speak to anyone in the federal agencies.
Among other things, we have a media policy out of HHS as of last week.http://www.hhs.gov/news/media_policy.htmlIt's apparently the first time in history the agency has issued written rules against reporters and staff members speaking to each other without reporting to the authorities.You might want to see Jim Romenesko's coverage from yesterday:http://www.poynter.org/category/latest-news/romenesko/Meanwhile the Columbia Review of Journalism has done an excellent piece examining this and other openness issues.http://www.cjr.org/feature/transparency_watch_a_closed_door.phpAs an offshoot of that piece there will be a session October 3 at the National Press Club.The announcement is below. I hope we can get as many journalists there as possible.Also, I have started a blog to bring some of the information together. I will try hard to keep up with it.I would appreciate tips, comments, whatever.http://profficecensorship.blogspot.com/Kathryn FoxhallAccess Denied: Science News and Government Transparency"Has the Obama administration lived up to its promise to make science more transparent and accessible to the public? An investigation in the current issue of Columbia Journalism Review (CJR) finds that despite President Obama's early promise to create an open government, the nation's science reporters feel there has been little to no progress since the Bush administration.On Monday Oct. 3, from 3 to 5 p.m., the National Press Club (529 14th Street NW, Washington, D.C) will host a panel of journalists and invited administration officials to critique what journalists and the government are (or aren't) doing to change that.The moderator is Seth Borenstein, national science reporter for The Associated Press.Speakers include:Curtis Brainard, CJR's science editorJoseph Davis, Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ)Felice Freyer, Association of Health Care Journalists (AHCJ)Darren Samuelsohn, Politico's senior energy and environment reporterClothilde Le Coz, Reporters Without BordersRepresentatives of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy have been invited.The panel discussion is cosponsored by the National Press Club, CJR, SEJ, AHCJ, and Reporters Without Borders. A reception will follow.If you are in the DC area, we hope you can join us.CJR