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Invoking a prime minister¡¯s directive on media support, the deputy director of the Government Information Agency and media relations officials at each government ministry are moving to take disciplinary measures against journalists and their employers that do not abide by news embargoes or off-the-record standards set by government offices. Journalists and media companies that break this regulation will lose access to information and be barred from getting interviews with government officials. Also, journalists signed up for access to government ministries must attend at least one government media briefing a week or face loss of their press pass.
A news embargo is a gentlemen¡¯s agreement between the government or other provider of information and journalists not to publish a certain story until a set point in time. It is common practice for the source and journalist to agree on an embargo date when it comes to issues involving national interests, national security or when human lives are at stake. A typical example is the itinerary of the president, where journalists delay publication until the actual event takes place due to security concerns. Off-the-record information is disclosed on condition that nothing will be written about it. An instance of that is ongoing diplomatic negotiations, where a source briefs journalists on the strategy of the government in advance but they don¡¯t write about it.
In most advanced countries, embargoes and off-the-record briefings are kept to a minimum due to the chances of such ¡°agreements¡± favoring the government¡¯s position rather than the public¡¯s right to know, with the danger that it is used to manipulate the news media. Whenever journalists find out about an instance of state abuse of power, the government rushes to set embargoes or raise concerns over national interests or security to enforce a reporting ban, all designed to make the public deaf and blind.
Therefore, embargoes and off-the-record comments should not be left to the arbitrary decision of those in power. Rather, the news media must be able to accept or reject such requests by the government after deciding whether they are rational or whether they have ulterior motives. But this government is seeking to give the deputy director of the GIA and media spokespersons at different government agencies the power to decide what is embargoed and what will be off the record. It¡¯s like giving absolute power to the government to control the flow of information.
It is also ludicrous that the government seeks to bar certain reporters from government briefing rooms for low attendance. The government is apparently unaware that reporters are shunning many ministry briefings because they are just meaningless events to publicize the achievements of ministers or vice ministers.
The government¡¯s guidelines on media access to public officials remind many of us of the past abuses of power to restrict the activities of the news media. But being implemented by a fading administration and its lackeys, it seems pathetic.
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