GREAT MOMENTS IN TRANSPARENCY

Health Journalism - Eleven major journalism organizations, representing thousands of journalists, are demanding the U.S. Food and Drug Administration end requirements that journalists and FDA employees notify or obtain permission from an agency official in order to conduct an interview. . . The journalists also object to public information officers listening in on interviews. . .

The groups wrote to the FDA's Transparency Task Force, which was created under the new administration, asking that it end these restrictions and set an example for other parts of the federal government.

The letter emphasized that although these restrictions have increased greatly in recent years, nearly all prior administrations allowed open, unfettered communication between agency employees and the media.

It has been during approximately the last two administrations that the rules have been implemented and grown steadily more constraining, according to journalists who have been reporting over that period.

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