A Minnesotan who voted in November for Barack Obama recently wrote NewsBusters thanking us for our reporting on how the Obama administration has thus far failed to transcribe, publish, and archive on whitehouse.gov its daily press briefings.
Writes Andrea Dvorak of St. Paul:
My politics are certainly left of center; I voted for Obama and couldn't be happier that he's our president now. (Part of why I started reading the press briefings back in 2002 was to keep tabs on some of the less well publicized actions of former president Bush.) But just because I think I'll like most of Obama's policies doesn't mean I'm comfortable letting his Press office decide what I find out about what the US press is asking his administration. I count on the press to investigate ANY administration and ask tough questions. If I don't know what they're asking, I'm significantly less informed about my government.
I think there are elements of the new "Briefing Room" that are more media savvy than the old WH press website - the blog and web videos, etc. I'll say that I think It's good for overall transparency that executive orders are published there in full. But so far, most elements there aren't about transparency - they are about message control. It's precisely because I like Obama that I don't want this to continue. Secrecy will taint his best ideas and could put the brakes on whatever momentum he has now.
Thanks again for your interest in this topic. I hope you and other members of the press push Robert Gibbs and his office on this.
Dvorak has started a group on Facebook dedicated to pushing the White House to publish the press briefings entitled, "Transparency, Please! Obama White House should publish the Press Briefings."
