NEPA details the government's "clamps on information release".Newsletter reporters covering a variety of U.S. government agencies have increasingly been stonewalled in their efforts to get information from those agencies, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. an informal survey of members of the Newsletter & Electronic Publishers Association. "The most obvious tightening of the screws on government-held information came from Congress in the form of a new exemption to the Freedom of Information Act (FoIA) for 'critical infrastructure' data for national defense reasons," NEPA's newsletter, Hotline, reported July 19, 2004. In the spring of 2003, NEPA joined with a coalition of publishers, broadcasters and open-government advocates in filing comments on that exemption. "Clamps on information release" have extended, for example, even to obtaining biographical data on a newly appointed deputy assistant secretary at the Labor Department The Department of Labor (DOL) administers federal labor laws for the Executive Branch of the federal government. Its mission is "to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners of the United States, to improve their working . Other examples abound. In the Clinton administration Noun 1. Clinton administration - the executive under President Clinton executive - persons who administer the law , Attorney General Janet Reno Janet Reno (born July 21, 1938) was the first and to date only female Attorney General of the United States (1993–2001). She was nominated by President Bill Clinton on February 11, 1993, and confirmed on March 11. issued a memo strengthening the FoIA law by stating that FoIA officers should "apply a presumption A conclusion made as to the existence or nonexistence of a fact that must be drawn from other evidence that is admitted and proven to be true. A Rule of Law. If certain facts are established, a judge or jury must assume another fact that the law recognizes as a logical of disclosure and that the Justice Department would "no longer defend an agency's withholding of information merely because there was a substantial legal basis" for doing so, Hotline reported. "But on October 12, 2001, memo from current Attorney General John Ashcroft John David Ashcroft (born May 9 1942) is an American politician who was the 79th United States Attorney General. He served during the first term of President George W. Bush from 2001 until 2005. Ashcroft was previously the Governor of Missouri (1985 – 1993) and a U.S. nullified nul·li·fy tr.v. nul·li·fied, nul·li·fy·ing, nul·li·fies 1. To make null; invalidate. 2. To counteract the force or effectiveness of. any gains Freedom of Information advocates made from the Reno memo," Hotline said. "Ashcroft stressed that the Bush administration is committed to 'safeguarding our national security, enhancing the effectiveness of our law-enforcement agencies, protecting sensitive business information and, not least, preserving personal privacy.'" Tom Curley Tom Curley is the current president and chief executive officer of the Associated Press - one of the most powerful men in media. Curley is also a former president, publisher, and one of the co-creators of USA Today. of NEPA counsel Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz LLP LLP - Lower Layer Protocol said, "Since the dawn of this administration, we've seen many agencies taking a more aggressive stance against the release of information." Hotline reported that Richard Ossoff, chair of NEPA's Government and Legal Affairs Committee, was also critical of the trend. Ossoff said, "While national security and personal privacy concerns are clearly important and deserving of serious consideration in weighing government information release, these considerations must not be used to effectively gut the Freedom of Information Act, truly a cornerstone of media access and the public's right to know. "When it is too easy for a government agency to say 'No'--as the Ashcroft policy guidance seems to encourage--the practical burden imposed on the media, particularly smaller publishers with limited resources, effectively thwarts the intent of the act and runs contrary to the public interest," Ossoff said. Curley echoed those comments: "Another factor is the cost in time and money that it takes to challenge a denial [of information requested]. Often, the information sought in a FoIA request is of such a time-sensitive nature that by the time the requester goes through a formal court challenge, the information is old news. Smaller publishers also may have neither the money nor staff time to challenge a denial." NEPA. 1501 Wilson Blvd., #509, Arlington, VA 22209 703-527-2333, www.newsletters.org |
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