President Obama a press champion? If only

[Commentary] It was President Barack Obama at his best. This was at Syracuse University's Toner Prize ceremony, which has become a true Washington Event. A packed house had gathered at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium to honor journalism in the spirit and tradition of the late Robin Toner, a New York Times reporter known for substance and depth. President Obama talked about the astonishingly low-level of the discourse in the current presidential campaign, and how foreign leaders were appalled by it. And then he turned his attention to the press, and how important it was for journalists to get beyond he-said, she-said reporting and false equivalence, about the need for deep reporting that gets at the truth, particularly during such a campaign. He essentially was telling journalists to do better.

It was hard not to get caught up in the spirit of the moment. That is, until you started thinking about the Obama Administration and its atrocious record on freedom of information. This is an administration that has lagged dramatically in complying with Freedom of Information Act requests, has carried out overly zealous leak investigations, has resisted making the President available for on-the-record sessions with White House reporters. In short, it has been very bad news for journalism and freedom of the press. And the American people who depend on it.