When Bloomberg spotted a Department of Homeland Security RFP for a database of journalists and sources, classified by how friendly or hostile they were to the DHS,
it struck many of us as sinister, especially under an administration
whose official, on-the-record position is that the free press is an
enemy of the USA.
But the DHS’s Press Secretary Tyler Houlton dismissed these concerns on Twitter,
saying “this is nothing more than the standard practice of monitoring
current events in the media. Any suggestion otherwise is fit for tin
foil hat wearing, black helicopter conspiracy theorists.”
He’s not entirely wrong. Organizations that talk to the press are
well-served to maintain some kind of record of their earlier
interactions with journalists. I sometimes experience the other side of
this, whether it’s publishers pitching me on reviewing book two in a
series when I’ve already passed on book one; or that time a PR person
working for a company that spent years unsuccessfully suing us for criticizing its products asked me if I’d consider that selfsame product for inclusion in our Christmas shopping guide.
The DHS is right to assert that organizations routinely assemble
in-house lists of journalist contacts, with notes about their earlier
interactions with the organization – but the DHS isn’t just another
organization, and its official dismissal of its critics and
unwillingness to thoughtfully engage with criticism shows exactly why we
should be worried.
