The following was released by the D.C. Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists yesterday:
According to news reports the administration has tightened
controls on government health officials and scientists in terms
of all statements and public appearances about the Corona
COVID-19.
The D.C. Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional
Journalists (SPJ) warns that such control over the communication of health officials
and scientists to the journalists is dangerous and damaging to
the public's understanding of the coronavirus situation, as well
as most other issues.
The chapter, representing many decades of reporting experience, emphasizes to policymakers that critical understanding often
is only uncovered or pulled together when the journalists can talk
to people without oversight and when they can talk in confidence to
experts, if necessary.
We appreciate the need, at times, for leaders to designate
particular persons or arenas as the source of the official story.
However, silencing or hampering other flows of expression only
ensures that all of us, including the leaders, are in the dark about
many things.
We stress the current restrictions are only the latest step
in a
decades-long trend to control reporting and information
flow. Many
agencies and offices in the federal government and elsewhere
have for years prohibited employees from speaking to the press
without
permission from the authorities, often through public
information
officers. The restrictions withhold information that belongs
to the
public.
We encourage reporters to reflect this background in their
coverage.
We note as salient examples of these long-standing
restrictions at
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and at the
National
Institutes of Health. Staff are prohibited from
speaking to reporters
without controls, and most staff can never talk to
reporters.
A recent, extensive legal review concludes that the
restrictions are
illegal. SPJ's press release on that, with links to the
society's work
on the issue, is below [here].
The Society of Professional Journalists is the nation's most
broad-based journalism organization, dedicated to
encouraging the free practice of journalism and stimulating high standards of
ethical behavior.
