XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: dcarnes@yahoo.com   
      
   While Congress is on recess and President Obama vacations in   
   Martha's Vineyard, a coalition of free press groups is   
   escalating an already-aggressive campaign against the Obama   
   administration for allegedly freezing out the press and cracking   
   down on reporters.   
      
   The flood of critical letters and petitions and statements from   
   First Amendment groups marks a new level of tension in a   
   relationship that for years has been deteriorating. Though   
   Obama, as a candidate in 2008, was widely seen to enjoy   
   favorable media treatment, his administration now is fielding   
   accusations that it's one of the least transparent in history.   
      
   Society of Professional Journalists President David Cuillier, in   
   a statement earlier this week, blasted the administration for   
   what he called "excessive message management and preventing   
   journalists from getting information on behalf of citizens."   
      
   SPJ is among the groups that's been leading the charge on the   
   issue. Last month, more than three dozen groups, including SPJ,   
   wrote to the White House about what they described as growing   
   censorship throughout federal agencies.   
      
   Cuillier's latest statement came in response to White House   
   Press Secretary Josh Earnest's Aug. 11 letter to his   
   organization regarding their complaints.   
      
   In it, Earnest said Obama's commitment to transparency is   
   "unwavering." While he acknowledged "there will always be a   
   healthy, natural tension between journalists and the White   
   House," Earnest vowed greater transparency going forward and   
   pointed to several steps the administration has taken: like   
   processing more "freedom of information" requests, declassifying   
   records and releasing information on White House visitors.   
      
   "Typical spin and response through non-response," Cuillier shot   
   back.   
      
   He said he hopes the administration is "sincere" about being   
   more open, "but we want action. We are tired of words and   
   evasion."   
      
   Media groups are gearing up for another confrontation on   
   Thursday, when they plan to present a petition with 100,000   
   signatures -- backed by the Committee to Protect Journalists,   
   the Freedom of the Press Foundation and others -- to the Justice   
   Department. It calls for the administration to halt legal action   
   against New York Times reporter James Risen, who detailed a   
   botched CIA effort during the Clinton administration to thwart   
   Iran's nuclear ambitions.   
      
   Risen's reporting is at the center of criminal charges against   
   former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling. Federal prosecutors want to   
   force Risen to testify about his sources at Sterling's trial,   
   and the Supreme Court recently refused to get involved in the   
   case.   
      
   Risen argued he has a right to protect his sources' identity,   
   either under the Constitution or rules governing criminal   
   trials. A federal appeals court in Richmond, Va., earlier   
   rejected Risen's bid to avoid being forced to testify.   
      
   At the same time federal prosecutors have fought Risen in court,   
   Attorney General Eric Holder has suggested that the government   
   would not seek to put Risen in jail should he refuse to testify   
   as ordered.   
      
   But journalist groups want assurances. Risen also is expected to   
   speak during a press conference at the National Press Club on   
   Thursday afternoon.   
      
   The case follows tension last year surrounding the Justice   
   Department's snooping on Fox News' reporter James Rosen's phone   
   records and emails, and its seizure of AP phone records in the   
   course of leak investigations. The controversy over those   
   actions led to some reforms at the Justice Department.   
      
   Press groups' complaints about the administration are manifold.   
   They say agencies are prohibiting staffers from talking to   
   journalists without public affairs office approval -- and   
   sometimes without public affairs employees sitting in on   
   interviews. Further, they complain about long delays in getting   
   information and about communications staff speaking   
   "confidentially" even on routine matters.   
      
   In yet another complaint, journalist and scientific   
   organizations accused the Environmental Protection Agency on   
   Tuesday of attempting to muzzle its independent scientific   
   advisers by directing them to funnel all outside requests for   
   information through agency officials.   
      
   In a letter, the groups representing journalists and scientists   
   urged the EPA to allow advisory board members to talk directly   
   to news reporters, Congress and other outside groups without   
   first asking for permission from EPA officials. An April memo   
   from the EPA's chief of staff said that "unsolicited contacts"   
   need to be "appropriately managed" and that committee members   
   should refrain from directly responding to requests about   
   committees' efforts to advise the agency.   
      
   The scientific advisory board's office had asked the EPA to   
   clarify the communications policy for board members, who are   
   government employees.   
      
   "The new policy only reinforces any perception that the agency   
   prioritizes message control over the ability of scientists who   
   advise the agency to share their expertise with the public," the   
   groups wrote.   
      
   The chair of that panel, H. Christopher Frey, said in an   
   interview with the Associated Press Tuesday in which he stressed   
   he was offering his personal opinion, that he found the tone of   
   the EPA memo to be unnecessary.   
      
   Frey, a distinguished professor in North Carolina State   
   University's engineering department, said that many of the   
   scientists that seek to serve on the committees are national and   
   internationally-renowned experts and that EPA "need not be too   
   strong in precluding interactions with the media or others."   
      
   An EPA spokeswoman said there are no constraints on members   
   fielding requests in a personal or professional capacity. She   
   said the memo was designed to assure transparency.   
      
   http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/08/13/rift-grows-between-   
   obama-media-as-press-groups-blast-administration-   
   spin/?intcmp=obinsite   
      
       
      
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