Mediaboss Marketing

Members of Congress have sided with the media to blast a new Labor Department policy that tightens control over the distribution of employment data, saying the new rules threaten press freedom and raise concerns of possible Big Brother government interference.

The policy an attempt to improve data cybersecurity would prohibit news organizations from using their own computers and telephone lines when filing stories about embargoed unemployment numbers and consumer prices from the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics. Instead, news organizations will be required to use only government-owned software and hardware.

The department currently gives journalists gathered in lockdown rooms the data a half-hour early, allowing reporters time to compile stories that can be published simultaneously when the information is officially released.

The Labor Department says the new policy is necessary to ensure that sensitive government information doesnt leak ahead of the embargoes. Early access to this data, even if just by a few seconds, can allow traders to unfairly manipulate markets and reap millions of dollars.

Media groups say theyve long supported government procedures to guard against leaks. But at a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on the matter Wednesday, they said the impending new rules go much too far, would trample First Amendment rights, reduce government transparency and increase not lower threats to market volatility.

The media takes government interference with its work product very seriously. So does the Constitution, Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, told the panel.

Daniel Moss, Bloomberg News executive editor for economics and international government, complained the policy would give the government unfettered access to reporters notes and drafts.

No administration anywhere should have access to a reporters thoughts, drafts or notes as a condition for covering the news, let alone news of such importance, he said.

Mr. Moss also said the policy threatens national security because the transmission of data would shift away from secure, dedicated lines operated by news outlets to the less-secure Internet, a potentially catastrophic scenario.

Bloomberg and three other news-gathering organizations the Associated Press and Dow Jones and Reuters have requested a meeting with the White House to voice their opposition to the pending policy change.

Visit link:
Media, lawmakers balk at new labor-news rules