Twenty-seven journalism and free speech groups sent a letter to each member of Congress on November 6 calling for the right of unimpeded communication with journalists for all federal employees.
The letter noted, “Over the last 25 years there has been a relatively rapid trend toward federal agencies and others prohibiting staff members from communicating to journalists without reporting to some authority, often public information officers.”
These restrictions, the letter said, “have become an effective form of censorship by which powerful entities keep the American people ignorant about what impacts them.
It pointed to the fact that a bill (H.R. 1709) introduced in the House of Representatives this spring would have given federal scientists, only, a small degree of protection to speak to the press. However, even that was stripped out during the October 17 mark-up in the House Science, Space and Technology Committee.
The letter said, “We call on Congress to hold hearings on these free speech issues and to work with the Executive Branch to complete a thorough examination on why free speech has become so undermined for millions of people that legislation is needed to allow free speech without reporting to authorities, and on what those restrictions do to the nation’s functioning.”
Led by the Society of Professional Journalists, the letter was also signed by the American Society of Journalists and Authors, the Association of Health Care Journalists, the National Association of Black Journalists, Open the Government, and others.
The letter noted, “Over the last 25 years there has been a relatively rapid trend toward federal agencies and others prohibiting staff members from communicating to journalists without reporting to some authority, often public information officers.”
These restrictions, the letter said, “have become an effective form of censorship by which powerful entities keep the American people ignorant about what impacts them.
It pointed to the fact that a bill (H.R. 1709) introduced in the House of Representatives this spring would have given federal scientists, only, a small degree of protection to speak to the press. However, even that was stripped out during the October 17 mark-up in the House Science, Space and Technology Committee.
The letter said, “We call on Congress to hold hearings on these free speech issues and to work with the Executive Branch to complete a thorough examination on why free speech has become so undermined for millions of people that legislation is needed to allow free speech without reporting to authorities, and on what those restrictions do to the nation’s functioning.”
Led by the Society of Professional Journalists, the letter was also signed by the American Society of Journalists and Authors, the Association of Health Care Journalists, the National Association of Black Journalists, Open the Government, and others.
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