Obama's Unprecedented Media Censorship

President Obama swept into office in 2008 on a tide of promises, including a commitment to usher in a new era of unprecedented transparency.  Even before his first year in office had drawn to a close, he discarded his vow of openness and adopted a hostile policy of government censorship.

In a blink of an eye, Obama and his team clamped down on the media's access to government records.  In its first year, the secretive administration denied 466,872 media requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), double the rejections in the last year under President George W. Bush.

Since that time, the administration has made few meaningful improvements, according to a recent analysis of federal data by the Associated Press (AP).  The news gathering organization has documented that the rejection of FIOA requests has skyrocketed in the last few years.

In March of this year, the AP's analysis of FIOA requests lodged with 100 federal agencies found the Obama Administration responded to even fewer than in past years.  The government either censored or denied access to 250,581 requests, which represented 39 percent of all applications for information.

Furthermore, the AP reported that the government's own data verified that the backlog of unanswered requests for information had swollen 55 percent.  There are more than 200,000 requisitions gathering dust in agencies' files. There are another 215,584 appeals that have been lost in the bureaucracy.

By way of explanation, the Freedom of Information Act, signed into law in 1966, provides for the full or partial disclosure of previously unreleased documents and information under the control of the government.  Although the law contains exemptions, it mandates greater access to federal records.

In its coverage of the administration's secrecy, the AP noted that Obama's government had "set a record again for censoring government files or outright denying access to them" in 2014.  Obama's reaction to the report was to dispatch his mouthpieces to deny the interpretation of his government's data.

But secrecy isn't the only weapon the president has used to shield his administration from legitimate news coverage.  His minions have launched attacks on news media critical of its policies, vigorously prosecuted journalists who attempted to expose wrongdoing and criminalized federal whistle blowers.

Instead of transparency, President Obama's record for accessibility, openness and honest communications has been the worst since President Richard Nixon.  That analysis is not a Republican talking-point.  It is the conclusion of the Committee to Protect Journalists.

The prestigious committee, an independent, non-profit organization that promotes press freedom worldwide, has taken the Obama Administration to task for its heavy-handed treatment of the media's efforts to uncover government information and its lack of transparency.

In a scathing report issued in 2013 that was covered up by the mainstream media, the committee had this to say about the administration's dealings with the media: 'the war on leaks and other efforts to control the information are the most aggressive since the Nixon administration.'

James Goodlae, the former general counsel of The New York Times, chastised the president for attempting to "criminalize the reporting of national security information."  Under Obama, the Department of Justice has pursued journalists who have relied on government leaks for stories.

Last year, thirty eight leading media organizations scolded the administration for its increased reticence. These influential media groups, including the Society of Professional Journalists, called on the administration to end "politically driven suppression of news and information about federal agencies."

As one example of the administration's overzealous persecution, the Justice Department has relentlessly  dogged James Risen, The New York Times reporter who is accused of using information from a Central Intelligence Agency source to write an article about an attempt to sabotage Iran's nuclear program.

This is the same administration that clandestinely subpoenaed and seized the telephone records of more than 100 Associated Press reporters in its Washington Bureau and elsewhere to determine the source of leaks to the wire service.  That Nixonian action had a chilling impact on Washington news sources.

Like many promises Obama made before his election, he has thumbed his nose at his pledge of running the "most transparent administration in history." His record is shameful.  Journalists who cover the administration should have the last word on the subject.

The New York Times David Sanger recently assessed the Obama government as the "most closed, control-freak administration" he has ever covered.  Listen and you will be able to hear a loud chorus of "Amens" echoing in newsrooms across America.