Map of countries who jail journalists for their reporting. Needless to say, those jailed aren't complaining about not having access to a golf course outing.
By now, you probably have read the self-indulgent
article by the folks over at POLITICO complaining about the lack of exclusive access granted to the White House press corps by President Obama's administration.
Oh noes, the administration is engaged in the "extensive government creation of content ... which can then be instantly released to the masses through social media" instead of sliced up to exclusives for traffic-hungry storyjockeys.
Oh my, the president has granted "an astonishing 674" interviews in his first term, "compared with 217 for President George W. Bush," but they're mostly with folks who don't get to sit in the White House briefing room.
We weren't allowed on the golf course to see the president relax with Tiger Woods.
Oh, the humanity.
Some perspective. Please.
Let's remember that our government, for all its faults and secrets, has been comparatively one of the most open and transparent in human history. Press briefings by officials up and down the executive branch, a robust free press that can largely print whatever it wants without fear of government reprisal, the ability to chase rumors and publish question-marked lies with reckless abandon ("Is President Obama a socialist?" "Are liberal blogs sending the same message as terrorists?")...
Our American press is armed with an arsenal of tools to scrounge up the truth and publish it to millions. Just because they use that arsenal to shoot themselves in the foot with stories about Beyonce and Michelle Obama's bangs doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
But to hear some journalists describe it, you'd think the president was in complete lockdown and controlling every word published. As POLITICO put it, President Obama is a "puppet master":
“The way the president’s availability to the press has shrunk in the last two years is a disgrace,” said ABC News White House reporter Ann Compton, who has covered every president back to Gerald R. Ford. “The president’s day-to-day policy development — on immigration, on guns — is almost totally opaque to the reporters trying to do a responsible job of covering it. There are no readouts from big meetings he has with people from the outside, and many of them aren’t even on his schedule. This is different from every president I covered. This White House goes to extreme lengths to keep the press away.”
Let's take a step back and define what "extreme lengths" really look like when an administration in in fact trying to "keep the press away."
As part of my gig at HALC, I spend a lot of time researching the retaliatory jailing of journalists. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, there are more journalists in jail for their work than in "any point since CPJ began surveys in 1990":
Large-scale imprisonments in Turkey, Iran, and China helped lift the global tally to its highest point since CPJ began conducting worldwide surveys in 1990, surpassing the previous record of 185 in 1996. The three nations, the world’s worst jailers of the press, each made extensive use of vague anti-state laws to silence dissenting political views, including those expressed by ethnic minorities. Worldwide, anti-state charges such as terrorism, treason, and subversion were the most common allegations brought against journalists in 2012. At least 132 journalists were being held around the world on such charges, CPJ’s census found.
I've been keeping a close eye on the actions of the world's worst jailer of journalists, Turkey. Some 70% of the journalists jailed in Turkey are ethinic Kurds who are imprisoned because of their coverage of the Kurish issue in Turkey. According to editor Mehmet Ali Birand,
“the government does not differentiate between these two major things: freedom of expression and terrorism.”
Yes, in Turkey, writing about political affairs can be and often is equated with terrorism. Oh, and for POLITICO's reference, this is what puppet masters really look like, from one Turkish writer:
"If you don't work for the system covering orderly pieces of news, they try to bend you to their will with pressure and intimidation. And if this does not work, you will end up in prison."
More from the CPJ:
China, the third-worst jailer, has made extensive use of anti-state charges to jail online writers expressing dissident political views and journalists covering ethnic minority groups.
And this:
The worst abuser of due process is Eritrea, which was holding 28 journalists, the fourth-highest total worldwide. No Eritrean detainee has ever been publicly charged with a crime or brought before a court for trial. President Isaias Afwerki’s government has refused to account for the whereabouts, legal status, or health of the jailed journalists, or even confirm reports that as many as five have died in custody due to inhumane treatment.
The 232 journalists sitting in jail right now around the world for their work have something to complain about. The countless of others who face true intimidation and lockouts from their governments have something to complain about. The White House press corps that gets to walk into a briefing room, ask questions, and get a response and other American journalists who have the unbridled freedom to chase a lead wherever it may lead are imprisoned only by their own sense of self-importance and entitlement.
Can administration officials be more forthcoming? Of course, just as with any administration. But to claim that the president is a "puppet master" who is "limiting" coverage of his administration? Well, that's exactly the type of crappy journalism our system freely allows reporters to print, and thank God for that. I needed a laugh today.