Obama Administration Slapped With ‘Muzzle Awards’ for Threatening Free Expression

In the past few months, the U.S
government has been slapped by
Reporters Without Borders and the
Committee to Protect Journalists over its attempts to maintain
a stranglehold on information, to punish government employees who
speak to the press, and even for targeting journalists
themselves.

Now you can add the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection
of Free Expression to the list of critics. Out of nine Muzzle
Awards bestowed by the organization this year, three go to elements
of the Obama administration.

For 2014 the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free
Expression, which is “devoted
solely to the defense of free expression in all its forms,”
bestowed dishonors in the area of respect for free expression on
the U.S. Department of Justice, the White House Press Office, the
National Security Agency, and the Department of Homeland
Security.

In its write-up
of the Justice Department, the Center points out that “the
current administration has pursued more prosecutions for leaks
under the Espionage Act than all previous administrations
combined.” In particular, it refers to the tracking of Associated
Press communications and the surveillance of Fox News correspondent
James Rosen.

[T]he DOJ characterized James Rosen as a “criminal
co-conspirator.” That fact bears repeating: The federal government
labeled a reporter a criminal for merely doing his job.

What was truly shameful about the DOJ’s investigation was that
it never actually considered Rosen a criminal co-conspirator; the
accusation was merely a means by which to circumvent the
requirements of the Privacy Protection Act. In a letter to
Congress, Attorney General Eric Holder stated, “the government’s
decision to seek this search warrant was an investigative step, and
at no time during this matter have prosecutors sought approval from
me to bring criminal charges against the reporter.”

The write-up ends on a hopeful note that the political backlash
sparked by targeting the press will deter future efforts.

We’ll see.

The White
House Press Office gets called out for its control-freaky
efforts to micromanage the president’s image.

Journalists have been butting heads with the Obama White House
ever since press corps photographers were prohibited from
documenting the President’s first day in office. In fact, during
his first five years in office, the White House has permitted
photography of President Obama alone inside the Oval Office only
twice: during telephone calls in 2009 and 2010. Photos of the
President and his staff working together in the Oval Office have
never been allowed, even though such pictures were routine in the
past.

The sanitized images released by authorized White House
photographers in lieu of actual journalistic photographs are “at
best, visual press releases, and at worst, pure propaganda
masquerading as news.”

The National
Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security get
slapped not for their creepy, creepy ways, but for their
intolerance toward those who mock their snoopiness.

Dan McCall sells T-shirts, mugs, posters, and other products
through the website Zazzle.com. Imprinted on his merchandise are
humorous images and messages, often of a political nature. One of
McCall’s designs juxtaposed an image of the National Security
Agency’s (“NSA”) official seal with the words, “Spying On You Since
1952.” Another design featured an altered version of the NSA seal
immediately above the words, “The NSA: The only part of government
that actually listens.” The Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”)
was also a target for parody, with McCall altering the official DHS
seal to read, “Department of Homeland Stupidity.”

The NSA and the DHS were not amused. In 2011, both entities sent
cease and desist letters to Zazzle.com threatening legal action if
the website did not remove the three designs described above.

Ultimately the feds backed own—after three years of litigation
and much more mocking. But the potential remains for the NSA and
DHS to pull the same stunt on anybody who finds humor in the
surveillance state.

Hey, this national security stuff is much too important to be an
object of fun. Or else.

Other booby prize winners include: the North Carolina General
Assembly Police, the Kansas Board of Regents, Modesto Junior
College, the Tennessee State Legislature, Wharton High School
Principal Brad Woods, Pemberton Township High School Principal Ida
Smith.

See the full list of awards, and their rationales, here.

The White House in the same company as Modesto Junior College?
That’s gotta sting.

In the earlier
Committee to Protect Journalists report, David E. Sanger of
The New York Times commented, “This is the most closed,
control freak administration I’ve ever covered.”

Plenty of people seem to agree.