Communications

Missed Opportunity

By Doug Heye

Today, President Obama will sign the Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act, which encourages a greater examination of the status of press freedoms in nations beyond the United States.  Certainly this is worthy legislation and an honorable tribute to a respected journalist who lost his life pursuing a passion that’s plays an important role in making ours a free and transparent society. But in signing this legislation before a limited press pool, the President is missing a tremendous opportunity to live up to the high standards he himself set regarding transparency and freedom of the press when entering office.  It has been nearly an entire year’s since the President’s last true press conference.  To wit, from today’s signing ceremony:

In the spirit of journalism freedoms, pooler Chip Reid attempted a question about BP, prefacing it with, “Speaking of press freedoms…” The president was not biting, though. “You are free to ask them,” he said, adding, “I’m not doing a press conference today.”

The last month alone is full of examples of how this Administration has fallen short on its own calls for media accessibility and transparency.

This President has made it abundantly clear that fielding questions from the press is one of the least favorite parts of his job. In a span of just two weeks, President Obama has made sure to take the time to chide the media during two college commencement addresses. During his address at the University of Michigan he disparaged the press saying that “the media tends to play up every hint of conflict, because it makes for a sexier story, which means anyone interested in getting coverage feels compelled to make the most outrageous comments." And just last week while giving the commencement address at Hampton University he brazenly accused the press of “bombard [ing] us with all kinds of content and exposes us to all kinds of arguments, some of which don't always rank that high on the truth meter”.

In April, the Secret Service was rebuked for chasing reporters out of Lafayette Park who were there to cover a protest outside the White House. One reporter present called the action “outrageous” and “ridiculous”.

At his international nuclear summit, the President all but shut out the press, leading the Washington Post’s Dana Milbank to write, “Reporters for foreign outlets, admitted for the first time to the White House press pool, got the impression that the vaunted American freedoms are not all they're cracked up to be.”

And just last week in an effort to bypass the national press corps, the Obama Administration decided to post an interview with Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan that was conducted by a White House employee rather than an independent journalist.

So it is ironic in every sense of the word that President Obama is signing a bill that calls on other nations to rise to a higher standard while the White House itself is unwilling to lead by example.