"Obama's Opaque Administration Makes It Harder To Cover Climate Change"

"Visiting Malaysia in November, Obama said he would raise concerns about government transparency and press freedom in his meeting with Prime Minister Najib Razak, who is embroiled in a financial scandal. At a town hall meeting, Obama spoke up for the press being 'able to report on what is happening in current affairs,' and for 'transparency and accountability.' Back home, though, Obama isn’t practicing what he preaches.

Instead, the White House has spent seven years creating what one government public information officer recently described as 'a highly message-controlled environment,' one in which there is actually less transparency than under previous administrations. Within many federal agencies, it’s harder than ever for journalists to get documents, interviews with government experts, and answers to questions about controversial topics. Restraints on the press include'minders' who sit in on interviews with officials and scientists (if they allow them at all); requirements to submit questions in writing; responses that too often take the form of talking points or general information rather than relevant answers; and delays that prevent reporters from getting information or interviews in time to meet deadlines.

These restraints make it especially difficult for journalists to cover complex issues such as climate change, which Obama has described as the greatest threat to national security, and nuclear weapons, which he pledged early in his term to work to reduce. This difficulty, in turn, makes it hard for citizens to stay informed about these issues. With only one year to go, the Obama administration seems to be running out the clock, not just on thousands of individual requests for information, but also on the opportunity to reform and codify media policies across federal agencies."

Dawn Stover reports for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists November 30, 2015.