After Leading The Attack On Investigative Journalism, President Obama Whines About A Lack Of Investigative Journalism
from the really-now? dept
On Monday, President Obama gave a speech about journalism in Washington DC, in which he bemoaned the state of investigative journalism today, suggesting that the lack of good investigative journalism is partly to blame for the mess that is this year's Presidential election season:A job well done is about more than just handing someone a microphone. It is to probe and to question, and to dig deeper, and to demand more. The electorate would be better served if that happened. It would be better served if billions of dollars in free media came with serious accountability, especially when politicians issue unworkable plans or make promises they can’t keep. (Applause.) And there are reporters here who know they can't keep them. I know that's a shocking concept that politicians would do that. But without a press that asks tough questions, voters take them at their word. When people put their faith in someone who can’t possibly deliver on his or her promises, that only breeds more cynicism.There's plenty in the speech that I certainly agree with. The state of media coverage that has moved towards shallow entertainment and he said/she said journalism is sad. And it's good that the President called out that kind of stuff as well:
I think the electorate would be better served if we spent less time focused on the he said/she said back-and-forth of our politics. Because while fairness is the hallmark of good journalism, false equivalency all too often these days can be a fatal flaw. If I say that the world is round and someone else says it's flat, that's worth reporting, but you might also want to report on a bunch of scientific evidence that seems to support the notion that the world is round. And that shouldn’t be buried in paragraph five or six of the article.He also highlighted some strong investigative reporting from the past and claims he's dismayed that we're seeing less of that today:
Whether it was exposing the horrors of lynching, to busting the oil trusts, to uncovering Watergate, your work has always been essential to that endeavor, and that work has never been easy. And let's face it, in today’s unprecedented change in your industry, the job has gotten tougher.But he leaves out his own administration's actions as a big part of why the job of reporting has "gotten tougher." While he came into office promising "the most transparent administration in history" and one of his first official actions as President was to tell the entire federal government to default to revealing information in response to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, as we've detailed over and over again, the administration has actually been one of the most opaque, setting records for denying FOIA requests, and making it nearly impossible to get any information out of the government without a lawsuit.
Former NY Times Executive Editor, Jill Abramson, who's worked in journalism in DC for decades, noted that the Obama administration was the most secretive, by far.
"I would say it is the most secretive White House that I have ever been involved in covering, and that includes — I spent 22 years of my career in Washington and covered presidents from President Reagan on up through now, and I was Washington bureau chief of the Times during George W. Bush's first term," Abramson told Al Jazeera America in an interview that will air on Sunday.And part of her complaint was not just in how the administration refuses to reveal anything, but also in how vindictive the White House was against reporters and sources.
The AP's Washington chief of bureau, Sally Buzbee, said the Obama administration's efforts to control information extend even to agencies not directly involved in intelligence gathering. Some sources, she said, have reportedly been warned they could be fired for even talking to a reporter.And then, of course, there are the criminal lawsuits. The Obama administration has used the Espionage Act against more journalists and leakers than every other President in history combined... and doubled. And, as of two years ago, he had put media leakers in jail for nearly 50 times as long as all other administrations combined.
"Day-to-day intimidation of sources is also extremely chilling," she said.
Buzbee said she's frequently asked if the Obama administration, when it comes to transparency, is worse than the administration of President George W. Bush.
"Bush was not fantastic," she said. She added, "The (Obama) administration is significantly worse than previous administrations."
That is not supporting investigative reporting. That is threatening and intimidating journalists and their sources. Creating true chilling effects and scaring people away from doing the very work that the President insists the media should be practicing.
Way back in 2011, I saw Daniel Ellsberg speak, and he speculated that a key reason why President Obama was so incredibly hostile to a free and open press was because he was embarrassed by his own actions that they were investigating. Ellsberg pointed out that the previous president, George W. Bush was known for widely abusing the power of his position, but he seemed proud of doing so. President Obama, on the other hand, got elected with promises of moving away from such abuses and restoring civil liberties. But that didn't happen. Things went in the other direction under his watch and his command. So you could understand why the President remains less than keen about leaks and the media digging into things like mass surveillance of Americans, or secret drone bombing campaigns.
It's a shame that the President feels the need to berate reporters over failing to do real investigative reporting, when a big part of the issue is his own administration's concerted effort to make that much more difficult.
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Filed Under: espionage act, foia, investigative reporting, journalism, leakers, president obama, transparency, whistleblowing
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1) Real investigative reporting declined even before Obama took office. While it's nice he's speaking out it would be better if he'd remedy his own obstructionism.
2) In many cases the failures are not due to the reporters, but the companies they work for being gutless to do investigations.
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News corporations have, via mergers, grown so large that those at the top have no passion for reporting, but a massive passion for power and money.
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Since investigative journalism is expensive and has become far more expensive under the newer FOIA. It is no wonder that the genre is getting shafted. No matter how amaseballz investigative journalism may be when it hits, the expense of doing it and the chance of getting legally stonewalled is too large to risk making enemies on.
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and considering Obama did absolutely fuck all as far as helping and protecting Snowden and Manning, to name but two, i think he's got a real nerve to spout this sort of crap! how can the leader of a nation say that under his watch, there will be less cover ups, more whistle blowing encouraged then, when people do the very things he wants more of, turns round and craps on them, leaving them for the wolves to pull apart! he may well still be the President but he tells as big a porkies as the next man!
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fuck that tool of Empire...
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Because of a lack of favorable reporting, one White House correspondent was removed from the reporter's list and another reporter more favorable to the administration was put in place as an object lesson to the rest of the corp.
It's a bit late after 8 years of beating up on the journalists to now want something different after all the efforts to prevent the public from knowing what the government does in their name.
In part it is what is driving this dissatisfaction with government by the citizens along with the economy inequity and corporation influence in politics while the citizens have none.
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Easier just to say "state power".
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Hypocrisy at its Finest...
Fuck you if I do it to you, and fuck you if you do it to me!
This very same lack of investigative reporting helped him get into office and now he is bitching because it might be helping to get trump into office?
He has cracked down on Whistle Blowers more than any other President!
Obama is the defacto model of a True Democrat! Tell you that he loves the poor (to get their votes) while fucking them over and then bitching about how the poor are getting fucked over right after he pulls out! The poor never learn, they are too busy looking for handouts instead of looking for a step up! And the only thing that matters is what Obama says... not what he actually does!
Never judge someone by what they say... always judge them by what they do!
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Re: Hypocrisy at its Finest...
Not ALL poor are this stupid, some still vote independent!
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It's called defensive voting.
We vote Democrat to keep out the Republican bastard.
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Re: It's called defensive voting.
Neither of those bastards give a damn, they just spin their shit in different directions, but it is still shit regardless of the direction of spin.
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Hypocritically consistent
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What an ass.
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Funny he worries about that now that he is leaving office
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Re: Funny he worries about that now that he is leaving office
Even now we will be getting the most dishonest politician to grace the political stage in some time representing the Dems this fall.
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"If only there was more investigative journalism against our OPPONENTS."
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Person does investigative journalism.
Does it make the powers look good? TRUE JOURNALISM. GOOD JOB!
Does it make the powers look bad? ESPIONAGE. TERRORISM. PUNISH! PERSECUTE!
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Todays politicians are emphasizing "representative" rather than "democracy". Using that to patronize people is far easier if the information that enters the public is incomplete.
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If wishes were horses...
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Huh?? WHAT??
FREE MEDIA?? billion dollar FREE MEDIA?? MEDIA accountability??(PAID MEDIA accountability)...
UNWORKABLE PLANS??(get someone in there that has MORE knowledge then Politics)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0nd5gUnLME
ANd tons more..
"Whether it was exposing the horrors of lynching, to busting the oil trusts, to uncovering Watergate, your work has always been essential to that endeavor, and that work has never been easy. And let's face it, in today’s unprecedented change in your industry, the job has gotten tougher."
2 words..WHISTLE BLOWERS..1 word JAIL..
I cant go on...this is to silly.
Let me ask..HOW can a democracy BE a democracy when we are NOT TOLD what is going on? HOW can we judge WHO to listen to and vote for, If we are FED BS, and Kept int he dark??
FIRE them all(they are OUR EMPLOYEES) and hire new ones..
HIRE ones that have never been in office, and have NEVER had family in office..
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Re: Huh?? WHAT??
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The emperor does not like it when he is not treated as royalty as he so demands.
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What a complete fucking moron.
Obama wants journalists to investigate, but only to investigate Republicans in an election year. But when journalists confront him or Democrats when it's not in the middle of an election season, he doesn't want them doing their job?
Moron.
The fucker can't pick and choose when he wants journalists to investigate and report. Either they do their job and report the news as they investigate or they don't. Obama can;t have it both ways. This is a man who whined, bitched and moaned when journalists were reporting on Edward Snowden and about the information he was releasing on the U.S. Government's spying but he admits that during an 'election' season he now wants them to investigate and report the news?
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Obama has just won the Raspberry Award for Politics.
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As in, parroting the talking points the government puts out and if nothing backs it up, just pull shit out of your ass until you do and never question their logic.
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For better or worse, the United States leads the world as the gold standard of press freedom (or lack thereof) for all other countries to follow. Apparently the former Soviet countries have taken notice, and in following suit, have likewise discouraged (or even suppressed) their own country's press freedom in the last few years.
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It is normal procedure...
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alternatives
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