To Wash Post: Baby Formula: The Press Was Not There; Press Contacts Were Controlled

Open Letter to the Washington Post: 

I’m questioning the propriety of the press covering what was known about baby formula issues prior to the shortage without talking about the censorship on newsgathering in Food and Drug Administration and elsewhere.

FDA employees, like people in many agencies, are prohibited from talking to reporters without guards from the public information office. Probably most contacts with reporters never happen because of delays or blockages through that permission-to-speak process.

About 27 years ago at least five specialized newsletter reporters walked the agency’s halls getting many stories that were not officially ordained. That kind of networking with employees might very well have brought out the formula issues well before they became a crisis.

Staff who may have seen this problem coming are in effect blocked from getting to know reporters, talking to them informally or, often, talking to them at all.

We in the press like to think that with all our talent, along with contacts with a few insiders who defy the no-talk rules, we get the whole story anyway. We don’t tell the public about this censorship culture which is now pervasive in many U.S. public and private entities. Our silence is shameful and our assumption about how much we know is repeatedly shown to be wrong.

We turn a blind eye to official information control and thereby turn a blind eye to many hazards to children and others.

The extensive legal analysis from The Brechner Center for Freedom of Information finds that these constraints, although very common, are unconstitutional and that many courts have agreed with that. The longer version is a legal brief.

May we talk about this?
Thanks,

Kathryn Foxhall

Resources
--The Society of Professional Journalists has said the controls are censorship and authoritarian.

-- “Editor and Publisher” featured the issue in October 2021.

-- The Yale Law School Access and Accountability Conference last October had a “Fighting Censorship by PIO” session. (The agenda is here and the PIO papers [Foxhall and LoMonte] are here. The video is here, session number 5.)


BCC:
Laura Reiley
Kimberly Kindy
Washington Post Editorial Staff
Senate HELP Committee
House Energy and Commerce Committee
Media Reporters
Health Reporters

American Society of Journalists and Authors

American Society of Media Photographers

News Leaders Association

Associated College Press

Center for Scholastic Journalism
Colorado Press Women
Colorado State University

International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors
iSolon.org
Media Freedom Foundation and Project Censored
National Association of Black Journalists
National Association of Hispanic Journalists
National Federation of Press Women
National Newspaper Association
National Press Photographers Association

National Writers Union
Native American Journalists Association
North American Agricultural Journalists
OpenTheGovernment.org
Radio Television Digital News Association
Society of American Business Editors and Writers
Society of Environmental Journalists
Society of Professional Journalists
Tully Center for Free Speech at Syracuse University

To Energy + Commerce Re: Baby Formula Shortage: FDA Kicked the Press Out about Years Ago

The following letter went to the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee: 

Chairman Pallone:

Regarding the baby formula shortage and what was known about circumstances at FDA: the controls on news reporting at the agency have become extreme over a long time. It is not realistic to expect that problematic situations will not develop and fester when governmental agencies heavily restrict public scrutiny of themselves.

Over the last two to three decades, many agencies, businesses and other institutions have instituted policies banning employees (and sometimes others) from speaking to reporters without oversight by authorities, often through public information officers. These restrictions prohibit all contacts not overseen by authorities, even though confidential conversations are so often critical to the public’s understanding.

Also, in reality, the system works so that a huge portion of contacts between reporters and staff is blocked altogether.

A number of journalism organizations have worked opposing these controls for a long time. I work with the Society of Professional Journalists and others on the issue.

I would like to talk to your staff about this.....
Please note also:

--Last July, 25 journalism and other groups wrote to the Office of Science and Technology Policy asking that the blockages be ended and that reporters be given credentials to enter facilities. It was one of numerous efforts over the years. We have not received any substantial response despite several follow-up contacts with OSTP.

--Importantly, an extensive legal analysis from The Brechner Center for Freedom of Information finds that these mandates for reporters to go through PIOs, although very common, are unconstitutional and that many courts have agreed. (The longer version is this law journal article.)

---SPJ sponsored seven surveys (2012 to 2016) that showed the censorship is pervasive in federal, state, and local government, education, government science agencies and police departments (see some summaries below).

---Journalism groups recently published a letter in Science magazine on this issue: Scientists’ right to speak to the press (science.org).

We don’t know about FDA but apparently contacts with the press for all or most of HHS must go through one small office, the Assistant Secretary of Public Affairs. Thus, a very few people under heavy conflict of interest and political pressure decide what all of us can hear about agencies’ workings.

As Covid deaths began to mount in 2020, an official told CDC media relations staff that just because individual reporters persist in asking to speak to someone, doesn’t mean they are allowed to.

Probably the top reason for media organizations’ silence about the controls is their long-time work ethic and strong financial incentive to assume--and to convince their audience--that good reporters get the story anyway. It’s more likely the press gets some stories and assumes what we get is all there is.

In addition, journalists fear, with good reason, that PIOs and other powers will block whatever access reporters have if they complain.

There are other resources below. I’d be happy to talk to anyone about this.

Kathryn Foxhall

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Staff Contact Information Disappears

The Department of Health and Human Services employee directory, which has been online for many years, has suddenly lost email and telephone listings. Names and professional positions are there, but there is no way to make connections.

I emailed five public affairs officers asking whether it is fair to say that the lack of an HHS directory with contact information is unprecedented, since even before the internet anyone could buy an HHS directory at the Government Printing Office.

I also asked if it is fair to say that no contact information is listed on the HHS website for public affairs contacts, other than the media@hhs.gov.

I wrote to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra saying this elimination of contacts would appear to be another step in the direction of information control that has included banning employees from speaking to reporters without notifying agency authorities and indicating to staff that they have no responsibility to speak the press.

One report said told the employee directory change was done in the name of security.

I told Becerra, “Security is not best served with one of the largest government agencies in the world broadly impacting public health from behind nearly impenetrable walls of restrictions with unreachable, unknowable people.

“I’m asking that all these barriers be removed. Note that many journalism groups have asked the same about the previously instituted restrictions.”

I have not had an answer yet.