“My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government,” stated President Obama on the day he took office in a memo to all executive agency and department officials.
When it comes to the Food and Drug Administration, however, that commitment to openness has gone by the boards. So much so that a host of prominent media outlets and journalists have petitioned the FDA to abandon a restrictive new set of guidelines limiting media access to agency officials.
In a letter to the FDA’s “Transparency Task Force,” the press organizations
object to the requirement that journalists and FDA employees notify
or obtain permission from an official to conduct an interview. And we
object to public information officers listening to interviews. These
relatively new practices hinder reporters’ ability to learn the truth
by inhibiting and sometimes barring employees from providing essential
information.Nearly all prior administrations allowed open
communication between agency employees and the media. The FDA should
restore this policy.
So much for follow-through.
If you’d like to know how well North Carolina state and local agencies are making their information easily accessible by the public, check out JLF’s Tranparency Project Web site here.
