Obama: No One Talks To The Media, Class Dismissed

"So much for Freedom of Speech? Obama wants to control what the media tells us about health and human services. Lovely."

Hey folks,

Here is the LINK: The Commentary- HHS Bans Staff from Speaking Freely with Media

Health and Human Services has just released a revised media policy, which forbids staffers from talking to journalists without first getting authorization from the HHS press office. The policy also bans employees from speaking off-the-record with reporters, rules that could significantly hinder investigative journalism.

Health-focused trade publications, which are dependent on confidential sources in agencies like the HHS, are already blasting the policy. Jim Dickinson, editor of FDA Webview and FDA Review called them a “Soviet-style power grab” and warned that the “existing [trade] media will likely die out” because of them:

The new formal HHS Guidelines on the Provision of Information to the News Media represent, to this 36-year veteran of reporting FDA news, a Soviet-style power-grab. By requiring all HHS employees to arrange their information-sharing with news media through their agency press office, HHS has formalized a creeping information-control mechanism that informally began during the Clinton Administration​ and was accelerated by the Bush and Obama administrations.

Consider how impossible these guidelines make the acquisition by a journalist of confidential internal sources in an agency like FDA. The existence of such confidential sources gave an economic foundation to and made possible the foundation of my own media, and the founding of earlier trade media such as The Pink Sheet and Food Chemical News, among many others.

The rules will make accurate coverage of the HHS much more difficult. Banning HHS staffers from talking off-the-record could have a chilling effect, and requiring them to get their conversations with journalists authorized by the media relations office means that the public will get less truth and more spin.

And as Cato’s Michael Cannon points out, the policy changes come at a noteworthy time:

Since this came on the heels of an HHS official announcing that the agency is scuttling ObamaCare‘s long-term care entitlement, a.k.a. the “CLASS Act,” one wonders if there is a connection. Or maybe HHS is just motivated by a general fear that the more the public learns about ObamaCare, the less we will like it.

It sounds like the changes have been happening slowly for some time, but the agency’s decision might have been prompted by an embarrassing email leak from the CLASS Act office last week. The major concern now is that if HHS gets away with this new policy, other government agencies could end up following suit.

Well? This is not new. One, the Mainstream Media Drones, the MMD, have simply reported whatever they are told to Report, and NOT to, for DECADES. They just stopped trying to hind it since 2000 when Bush got Elected. They REALLY gave up hiding their Liberal Lean since Bush's Re-election. But this is not new. That's why I call them the MMD. Hell, what is it, MSNBC I think that even ADVERTISE that they now "Learn Forward." In other words, "Progressive." Which is another word for LIBERAL.

Second, I have worked FOR Companies and Organizations that had Policies that Stated that NO ONE could speak to the Media without Permission to do so. So none of this is NEW or surprising. None of it is really News. But THIS is. This one line in this Piece IS News.

Since this came on the heels of an HHS official announcing that the agency is scuttling ObamaCare‘s long-term care entitlement, a.k.a. the “CLASS Act,” one wonders if there is a connection.

Ah, yes. The Class Act. Remember that? That was a long term care funding for Seniors. Nursing Homes and Such. End of Life Care. It was said to be set to rake in $86 billion in premiums from 2012-2021. This was included in Obamacare to "prove" that is would actually lower costs and keep it under that One Trillion number. But the problem is, that it was all a lie. Class would pay out substantially more than that over the long term, rapidly generating Deficits and go into Bankruptcy. Even Obama's own Crew Members said so. They even said that the Class Act should not be included in Obamacare. That is WAS unsustainable.

So back on September 22, 2011:

This morning, Bob Yee, who was tasked with serving as the actuary of the CLASS program, sent out an email to his colleagues, announcing his departure from HHS, given that “HHS has decided to close down the CLASS Office effective tomorrow.” Yee writes that “I believe I have made a contribution to CLASS to the best of my ability and hope I haven’t embarrassed the actuarial profession too much.”

So no more Long Term Care for Seniors? We already know Obama's Plan for old People. "Take a Pill." {Smile} So the real News here is NOT that Obama wants to control what his Crew say to the Media. The real News here? Class dismissed.
Peter

Sources:
The Commentary- HHS Bans Staff from Speaking Freely with Media
FORBES - HHS Official: Administration is Shuttering CLASS, Obamacare's Long-Term Care Entitlement