US journalists accuse Obama of censorship

The administration of US President Barack Obama puts pressure on journalists in the United States, a report from the Inter-American Press Association. The document notes that the White House forbids officials to communicate with the press, due to the need to keep state secrets and maintain security.

In addition, The Daily Caller publication said that the White House was covering Obama's unpaid bills.

The report, published within the framework of the 70th session of the General Assembly of the Inter-American Press Association, says that over the past six months the situation with freedom of speech in the countries of North and South Americas has deteriorated dramatically. The United States and Canada have failed to carry out the reforms that would limit the intervention of authorities in the work of the media.

The governments of these countries continue to edit agendas of mass media outlets, justifying their actions by the need to "respect national security," the report said.

Earlier, the White House Correspondents' Association, which includes journalists of the presidential pool, harshly criticized methods of work of Barack Obama's press service. It was said that the staff of the presidential administration showed direct influence on the content of the materials that reporters prepare.

According to experts, the American authorities have been persecuting journalists for a long time, forcing them to disclose sources of information, conceal information about activities of the government. Officials may even instruct journalists to publish only nice photos.

Western media strongly disagree with the authorities dictating their terms to the press. For example, seven organizations that defend freedom of the media, including the World Association of News and Newspaper Publishers, the Committee to Protect Journalists and the International Press Institute, signed a letter to the British Prime Minister to stop persecuting The Guardian for the publication of Edward Snowden's documents.

This is also evidenced in the report from Reporters Without Borders that was published in February 2014. The report titled "Attack on the Press" was prepared by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

In any case, it seems no longer possible to hush up the problem.

The press was also extremely outraged with the fact that officials of the Obama administration edited the president's speech that he delivered during a fundraising event in Chicago. In that speech, Obama acknowledged that he left a number of unpaid bills in Chicago when he moved to live and work in Washington.

A strange and terrible, for the "democratic press," thing happened next. One of the journalists of the president's pool put the quote in her night report. Yet, in the morning, the White House presented an official press release, in which there was no quote already.

Here is what Barack Obama actually said:

"One of the nice things about being home is actually that it's a little bit like a time capsule. Because Michelle and I and the kids, we left so quickly that there's still junk on my desk, including some unpaid bills (laughter) - I think eventually they got paid - but they're sort of stacked up. And messages, newspapers and all kinds of stuff."

The official version of his remarks about the bills is different when it comes from the White House:

"...there's still junk on my desk, including some - newspapers and all kinds of stuff.?

As you can see, nothing is said about the unpaid bills. As usual, White House officials shrugged off the problem saying that there were problems with making the transcript of the president's speech.