Obama Signs Daniel Pearl Press Act--protects journalistic freedom elsewhere

Oh the irony. The president who has done more to target and malign freedom of speech, print, and internet (the press) in my memory, attacking Fox News as not being "a real news organization" and has his lackies and attack dogs going after the sponsors of Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh, signs the Daniel Pearl Press Act, requiring "the State Department to expand its scrutiny of news media restrictions and intimidation as part of its annual review of human rights in each country. Among other considerations, the department will be required to determine whether foreign governments participate in or condone violations of press freedom."

Obama Signs Daniel Pearl Law Backing Press Freedom - NYTimes.com

And it wasn't enough that he had every major cable and broadcast company and news organization under his control carrying his water and getting him elected--he's created yet another White House news company for sanitizing his activities even more than WaPo, NYT or Katie would do for him. I guess they didn't believe Glenn when he told them they would be next after he got done marginalizing Fox.

"The White House's media management practices have drawn quiet criticism from journalists in the past few weeks. Despite Obama's campaign pledge to be open with the media, members of the White House Correspondents' Association met with Gibbs recently to complain about limitations on their access. The group is mainly upset about the relatively few informal question-and-answer sessions Obama has held since taking office. Obama had 46 such encounters with the press during his first year, far fewer than Presidents George W. Bush (147) and Clinton (252) during their first years, according to Martha Joynt Kumar, a political science professor at Towson University. However, Obama gave many more media interviews (161) compared with Bush (50) and Clinton (53) in their first years. Kumar said Obama gave more formal news conferences in his first year (27) than Bush (19), but far fewer than Clinton (45)." WaPo.

More on the message machinery and spin.

White House message machinery spinning faster than ever - McClatchy