News Media Complaints About PIO "Minders" Won't Go Away

Not talking about the Obama administration's controlling and secretive media policies does not seem to be keeping them out of the newspapers.

In fact, they are now the story. On March 30, 2015, the Washington Post's media reporter Paul Farhi published a rather long (1850-word) story detailing the unfolding of the Obama spin-control saga and the resulting uneasy standoff. Several SEJ members were mentioned.

The bottom line, several journalists quoted in the story said, is that people know less about matters that vitally affect their health and welfare, the public knows less about what government is doing, and government is less accountable to the public.

Mentioned prominently in the story was Charleston Gazette reporter Ken Ward Jr., who had to wait nearly a week to get a U.S. EPA official to talk to him about the toxic chemical spill that contaminated the drinking water of some 300,000 residents in his town in January 2014.

Also mentioned was Dina Cappiello, until recently an energy/environment reporter in the AP's Washington bureau, who recounted the Interior Department stonewalling her request for data on bird deaths at wind-farms.

The article cited Tom Reynolds, the Associate Administrator who heads EPA's Office of Public Affairs, as justifying press office chaperoning of agency experts. Reynolds portrayed the typical reporter as inexperienced and lacking knowledge of complex environmental issues.

In an online comment on the story, SEJ Executive Director Beth Parke wrote: "EPA’s Tom Reynolds would have you believe that delay and obstruction by press office staff is his team’s way of nobly guiding inexperienced reporters for better results. This is nonsense. Time and time again, experienced, veteran journalists who are reporting important stories for communities eager to know are denied access to agency scientists and officials, even during public health crises. This cheats the public of information they need and deserve, as produced for top news services, national, regional and local media."

• "Access Denied: Reporters Say Federal Officials, Data Increasingly Off Limits," Washington Post, March 30, 2015, by Paul Farhi.
• Previous Stories: WatchDogs of August 13, 2014 and July 17, 2014.