Science Writers "Dismayed" at Committee Stripping Free Speech Provision from Bill

On November 15 the National Association of Science Writers told the U.S. Congress that, “many, if not most, agencies now require their scientists to get approval before speaking to reporters,” and in many instances agencies prohibit them from talking to reporters at all.

NASW said it was dismayed that language that would have given scientists’ the right to speak to the press was stripped out of the Scientific Integrity Act bill on October 17 in the mark-up by House Science, Space and Technology Committee.

The NASW letter comes after a letter from 28 journalism and other groups went to Congress with much the same message on November 7.

NASW, which has both journalists and public information officers among its members, said, “Federal agencies’ policies and practices that block the dissemination of scientific information are at odds with widely recognized norms of journalism.”

The association noted that the U.S. government employs one of the most powerful and accomplished scientific work forces in history, with tens of thousands of publicly funded scientists working in more than 20 agencies.

27 Groups Call on Congress to End the Censorship on Federal Employees

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.