The Cloak Descends

One of the worrisome trends we'll be following at mediacitizen is the increasing loss of government transparency at the hands of bureaucrats tasked on high to cloak gov't activities and withhold gov't records from journalists and citizens. Bush Administration officials justify their new secrecy as part of the ongoing war on terror, but mediacitizen believes this is just another smoke screen intended to defang the Freedom of Information Act and strip Americans of their right to know. For more on this, read Eileen Sullivan's recent piece in the Federal Times. Also read Susan Stranahan's good overview at CJR Daily

" . . . .the secrets guarded by those in Washington don't only involve Star Wars programs run amok, or abuses of civil rights in a time of war, or poor management of an agency vital to national security. Denial of access to information of all sorts is growing 'at an epidemic rate,' according to Associated Press President and CEO Tom Curley."

Those leading efforts to defend the public's right to access include Lucy Daglish of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. Read her report at MediaChannel.org.