Equality of due diligence across administrations

The Great Revealing. Except, in this instance, almost all of what is reported here has been reported in the past. It was ignored.

From Obama’s Spying On The Press Was Far More Extensive Than Previously Thought by John Merline. Clearly there is a tone of ideological or political animus in the reporting but it is a timely reminder of some revelations going back up to ten years ago.

The Obama administration was notorious for running an exceedingly tight ship when it came to communication. They pursued leakers mercilessly, routinely ignored or ran the clock out on FOIA requests, and sharply limited press access to the president. All in a fashion more comprehensive and extreme than in the past.

And this was in a context where the press were overtly and demonstrably enamored with the administration. They went out of their way to play nice and never complained when they were manhandled by the administration. In contrast to this administration where the mainstream media has been almost entirely hostile (90%-95% anti-administration content) from the very beginning. They were politically and ideologically hostile even before the new Administration came into office.

As Merline notes, Trump might be an enthusiastic taunter of the mainstream media but he has yet to demonstrate the excessive use of law enforcement to pursue reporters as was customary with the Obama administration. The only overlap between the two administrations is that occasionally Trump sends a reporter into Coventry (Jim Acosta) just as the Obama administration used to try and cut off the entire Fox News station.

I have seen over the past couple of years many talking heads trying to pump a panic over an impending dictatorship because Trump insults journalists and the mainstream media. Every now and then I think of going back and digging up all the old stories of the Obama administration about which very few in the mainstream media reported and certainly did not complain about.

Merline mentions many of the instances I recall. I would have thrown in the CIA spying on Congress as well. While not part of the mainstream media (per se), Congress does function similarly as a constraint on the administration. And let's not forget Sharyl Attkisson and her charges of illegal DOJ surveillance of her.

Here is fact-checking from way back in 2014 by Politifact of Jake Tapper's claim that "Obama has used Espionage Act more than all previous administrations". As was their wont, they spilt a lot of ink on supposed nuances and ambiguities but ultimately were forced to acknowledge:

Tapper said more than all previous administrations combined, the Obama administration has used the Espionage Act to go after whistleblowers who leak to journalists. The number of cases involving that law support Tapper’s statement. There is reasonable debate over whether the whistleblower label applies to all cases and Tapper said he could have been more precise.

However, the Justice Department does not challenge the basic figures and the experts we contacted affirmed the general accuracy of the claim.

We rate the statement True.

I hold the First Amendment as almost absolute. Administrations do occasionally have secrets which need to be kept secret. Military secrets, law enforcement secrets. But the long history of governmental secret keeping is almost a wholly consistent effort to keep secrets which are embarrassing to the government, not secrets which are dangerous to the public.

It is the right and the duty of the press to investigate administrations and to hold them accountable.

The mainstream media were badly abused by the Obama administration because they knew what the administration was doing and yet, despite knowing and because they were sympathetic to Obama, they ignored his behaviors and actions. They do need to hold this administration accountable as well. But they are in a very weak position to argue that this administration is worse than the prior.