Society of Professional Journalists
Improving and protecting journalism since 1909
More than 50 journalism groups again urge President Obama to stop excessive controls on public information
Contacts:
David Cuillier, SPJ FOI Committee Chair, 520-248-6242 (MST), spjdave@yahoo.com
Kathryn Foxhall, SPJ FOI Committee Member, 301-779-8239, kfoxhall@verizon.net
Jennifer Royer, SPJ Communications Strategist, 317-361-4134, jroyer@spj.org
INDIANAPOLIS
– Fifty-three journalism and open government groups today called on
President Barack Obama – yet again – to stop practices in federal
agencies that prevent important information from getting to the public.
The national organizations sent a letter
to Obama Monday urging changes to policies that constrict information
flow to the public, including prohibiting journalists from communicating
with staff without going through public information offices, requiring
government PIOs to vet interview questions and monitoring interviews
between journalists and sources.
This was the second letter the groups sent to the White House regarding government transparency. The first letter, sent July 8, 2014, and a follow-up letter sent Aug. 5, 2014, were met with a non-response response from the White House on Aug. 11, 2014.
