Team Obama needs to let the sunshine in
This is Sunshine Week, a time to celebrate the importance of openness in government and freedom of information.
An event that grew out of a protest by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors in 2002 against efforts to weaken the Sunshine State’s sunshine law, the week of conferences and meetups is sponsored by the American Society of News Editors and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
It’s a terrific cause, but one with a daunting challenge because the forecast nationally is not so much sunny as stormy.
Recent surveys give the Obama administration low marks when it comes to open government, a painful irony given that the president once promised his would be the most transparent administration ever. Instead, we’ve almost got a total eclipse of the heart.
The Associated Press examined how well the administration is complying with the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, under which the government is supposed to release information unless there are compelling reasons not to, such as national security. The results weren’t heartening.
In fact, the AP reported that Team Obama, whose affinity for sunshine has never been impressive, was going backward. It found the administration last year had either censored documents or denied access more often than it ever had in the past.
“In category after category — except for reducing numbers of old requests and a slight increase in how often it waived copying fees — the government’s efforts to be more open about its activities last year were their worst since President Barack Obama took office,” the wire service said.
In a year when national security issues came to the fore with disclosures of widespread surveillance by the National Security Agency, the Obama administration used that as a reason for withholding information a whopping 8,496 times, twice as often as it did in the president’s first year of office, according to the AP.
Of course, there are times when it’s valid to keep things secret. That’s why there are exemptions under FOIA. But, as study after study has found, the government slaps a “classified” designation on far more information than it needs to.
So why is this a big deal? Because frequently the government buries information that might put it in a bad light. The press needs this information so it can play its watchdog role on behalf of the public. This is a democracy issue, not a journalism issue.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, summed up the issue succinctly — and perfectly.
“I’m concerned the growing trend toward relying upon FOIA exemptions to withhold large swaths of government information is hindering the public’s right to know,” the senator told the AP. “It becomes too much of a temptation. If you screw up in government, just mark it top secret.”
The news wasn’t any better in the National Security Archive’s FOIA Audit. It found 50 of 101 federal agencies haven’t updated their regulations to comply with Congress’s 2007 FOIA amendments, and 55 have regulations that “predate and ignore President Obama’s and Attorney General (Eric) Holder’s 2009 guidance for a ‘presumption of disclosure.’ ”
To complete the trifecta, the Center for Effective Government on Monday gave failing grades to seven of the 15 federal agencies it reviewed in its assessment of government transparency.
The relationship between Obama and the media has long been puzzling. For one thing, liberals are generally considered to be friendlier to the press than conservatives, although that’s not always the case. And Obama’s rapid rise to the White House was fueled by no shortage of positive if not gushing coverage.
But since he has been in office, the relationship has cooled considerably. Journalists complain about lack of access. And the administration’s zealous and unprecedented pursuit of leakers raises fears about the dreaded chilling effect on whistle-blowers.
It’s great that Sunshine Week spotlights open government. But don’t expect a change in the weather anytime soon.