A new report about the “conservatives’ dragnet” has the leftwing media up in arms as the Biden administration is reportedly being flooded with Freedom of Information Act requests.
“Right-leaning groups have filed tens of thousands of information requests as Donald Trump plans a scorched-earth reign over civil servants,” Politico reported.
“The groups are seeking a broad range of documents, including specific requests for civil servants’ communications that could potentially be used to oust or target employees suspected of disloyalty to Trump. The groups have also requested details about political appointees schedules and meetings, as well as communications with congressional offices,” the outlet noted, making one wonder why the media has not been doing the same kind of investigating during Biden’s tenure.
All outfits should scour feds’ emails. https://t.co/tQOQq6O6Js
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) November 4, 2024
In addition to requests for records from the Environmental Protection Agency, requests have also been made by the Heritage Foundation, Protect the Public’s Trust, the Texas Public Policy Foundation and the Republican National Committee among others. They have filed requests for records from the EPA and the Interior and Energy departments.
Politico further drummed up the panic with a take from a senior adviser at the Environmental Protection Network, a group made up of former EPA officials.
“This abuse of the FOIA system is to intimidate civil servants and pave the way for hit lists in the event that Trump takes office,” said Jeremy Symons. “When you have people on a witch hunt that want to sift through thousands of emails to find a single word or sentence to spin … to fabricate conspiracy theories, that has to have a chilling effect.”
Filing FOIA requests to access the internal communications of US Government officials is called “journalism.” In fact, that’s one of the key tools to bring transparency to the government: a core function of journalism.
Using FOIA is not some sinister right-wing plot: https://t.co/ASuN0x1fGY
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) November 4, 2024
The article continued to detail the document requests made by different groups and individuals, labeling many of the FOIA requests as “abusive” and panicking over the “‘ideological purge” coming to the Deep State.
The hot take from Politico was blasted on social media where X users reminded what actual journalists are supposed to be doing.
Legacy media is now driven by the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be doing a journalism. https://t.co/BCgAgcn9sh
— Matthew J. Peterson (@docMJP) November 1, 2024
Journalists Against Journalism
— jimtreacher.substack.com (@jtLOL) November 4, 2024
So you’re reporting on people doing journalism?
— T_p_tio 🎈 (@Txp_RBI_Xctuxl) November 1, 2024
I see we can add “scouring” to the list of things Conservatives “pounce,” “seize,” or “squeeze” on…
The fact that there needs to be an actual FOI request is already the disgusting part. 99% of government communications should be public and easily accessible at any time. https://t.co/xz0lM3g6mn
— From the Land of Sky Blue Waters 🇺🇸 (@HammsLager) November 4, 2024
“Conservative outfits are seeking transparency” doesn’t quite perpetuate the narrative they’re looking for.
— Mike Osborne (@M_David_Osborne) November 4, 2024
The Pravda charge is often abused, but hard to know how to describe a journalistic outlet that runs a hit piece on Americans filing FOIA requests. https://t.co/8RfqDAPU5I
— Philip Klein (@philipaklein) November 4, 2024
Investigative journalism is “conservative” now. 🤡
— Good Dog, Blue. 🐶 (@sasimmons) November 2, 2024
