DOJ Proposes In-House Editing Desk So Reporters Stop Getting Things Wrong Before They Write Them
Officials say the new review office will save everyone time by approving accurate stories in advance.
Lawyers for the Department of Justice told a federal court this week that the surest way to stop news organizations from spreading falsehoods and endangering national security is to let the government read their stories first, fix them, and then let them run.
Under the proposal, reporters covering the White House would submit drafts to a newly created Pre-Publication Accuracy Desk, staffed by officials whose job is to confirm that a story is true before it becomes a story. Officials described this as a natural extension of the existing media ban, since a story that has not yet been written cannot yet contain a falsehood.
"We came together to protect the public from information they hadn't seen yet," said a spokesperson for the desk, who then left to review an article about the desk before it could be published.
Outlets subject to the ban have reportedly asked whether they could simply publish nothing at all, a suggestion officials called an interesting middle ground but ultimately less accurate than reporting the desk had personally approved.
The DOJ's court filing notes that the arrangement would also resolve future lawsuits automatically, since any complaint about the process would itself require pre-approval before it could be filed.