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• Sunday, April 19, 2009 12:58 PM

  There are instances of good journalism out there

  But you have to look really hard to find it beyond the usual suspects. Here's an example from an unlikely source about this news:

  From an EFF blog post: Last week, the Justice Department told a federal judge (PDF) in Washington that the FBI – despite the new Holder FOIA guidelines – will not be altering its previous decision to withhold a substantial amount of information concerning its massive Investigative Data Warehouse (IDW), which the Bureau describes as "the FBI’s single largest repository of operational and intelligence information." The database contains hundreds of millions of records and has been characterized as an "uber-Google."

  http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/04/obamas-transparency-

  From the unlikely source (AP) with no anonymous officials:

  The administration's handling of the decision fit a pattern that emerged this month: Highly visible announcements when Obama breaks with Bush policy in order to open hidden government files, but an almost stealthy rollout of decisions when Obama endorses secrecy....
  
  There's no lack of openness when Obama changes Bush policies....
  
  With a flourish, the Justice Department has opened two batches of secret legal opinions crafted to support Bush's anti-terrorism polices. Just Thursday, four Bush-era legal opinions that relaxed restrictions against torture of prisoners were made public, accompanied by a department news release and a statement from Obama.
  
  In contrast, the decision to endorse Bush's withholding of records about the FBI's data warehouse was filed in federal court last Monday with no other public word from the current administration.

  http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g7opNfurujBilLAKPJydC41JOsmAD97LISR00

  —EJ Read EJ's other letters
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