Obama's Censorship

Here I am in silence
It's a game I have to play
You and I in silence
With nothing else to say
--Information Society

Letter from the Society of Professional Journalists requesting that the Obama administration remove various forms of censorship of public information.

In particular, SPJ cites restrictions placed on communications between journalists and federal agencies. Whereas journalists could once freely walk agency halls and communicate with agency staff, such free communication is no longer allowed. Instead, media representative must go through public affairs offices or political appointees. Incomplete information and spin, results.

Unlike privately owned and operated organizations, where reasonable control of communication is a valid property right, government agencies are owned by and work for the public. Transparency should be total. Media restrictions lifted.

What makes the present state of censorship particularly ironic is that it comes from an administration that had promised high transparency. In reality, it operates with growing opacity and deceit.

The SPJ letter suggests that information suppression at the federal level has been growing for decades, and has significantly increased with the past two administrations.

Why more censorship now? Because technology has collapsed barriers to entry and opened the field of journalism. Prior to the increased competition, media outlets were fewer and easier to control--particularly where biased journalists were partial to particular political causes. Even if journalists with a political preference intend to report news impartially, it is difficult to do so (see 'Distortion Theory' thread).

Now, it is more difficult for government institutions to control the media. Journalists and their outlets can no longer be trusted to toe party lines. Information markets that are more free are more capable of exposing political malfeasance.

The institutional response, and quite predictable, really, has been to cut information flows and more tightly manage its content.