How soon we forget.
Obama administration and censoring the press.
So, the leftists are crying the blues because several leftist media sites lost their hard passes and offices in the White House. No one cried when over 400 Conservative news outlets lost their passes under Biden. But let's get back to real freedom of the press censorship.
The Obama administration’s Justice Department treated Fox News reporter James Rosen as a criminal suspect in a leak investigation — labeling him a “possible co‑conspirator” under the Espionage Act, secretly obtaining his phone and email records, and tracking his movements. This became one of the most controversial press‑freedom episodes of the Obama era.
DOJ secretly obtained Rosen’s communications
Investigators collected:
- Phone records (including Fox News lines)
- Personal email records (via a federal search warrant)
- State Department badge‑swipe logs to track his physical movements.
- Treating routine newsgathering as a criminal conspiracy was unprecedented
- Secretly seizing a reporter’s communications would chill investigative journalism
- The Espionage Act was being used aggressively against leaks in ways that swept up reporters
The Rosen case, alongside the seizure of Associated Press phone records, became the centerpiece of criticism that the Obama administration was unusually aggressive toward leak investigations.
The Obama administration didn’t “prosecute” Rosen — but it did:
- Call him a criminal co‑conspirator
- Secretly seize his phone and email records
- Track his movements
- Obtain a search warrant personally approved by the Attorney General.
Bottom line
The Obama administration’s press‑freedom controversies included:- Secret AP phone‑record seizures
- Surveillance of James Rosen
- Record‑high leak prosecutions
- FOIA obstruction
- Reduced press access
- Intimidation of sources
- Increased secrecy around Guantanamo
- Multiple DOJ investigations involving journalists
- These episodes collectively shaped the press‑freedom debate during Obama’s presidency.