Department of Labor wants to control the economic data as well as the speed in which it can be reported!!!
By Mark Tapscott / Beltway Confidential – Unrest is simmering in some quarters of the Washington news universe regarding changes in the way the Department of Labor (DOL) manages its pre-release media “lockups” on sensitive data like weekly jobless benefits and unemployment.
For years, journalists participating in the lockups have shown up at DOL at the appointed time, then entered a limited-access area to receive the new data and prepare news stories for release as soon as official embargoes end.
The system insures that major news organizations get the data as soon as possible and allows journalists covering the release get a jump on providing analyses and opinion about the data.
Delays will make it more difficult for independent analysts to understand the new data and could give White House and DOL political appointees more time to blunt the impact of the negative news resulting from the data.
CKA – In laymen terms this means the government will provide important (or fixed) employment data on government computers so the media cannot have a faster jump on reporting with their independent Wi-fi devices. Not only does government want to control the data, they want to control how quickly the media can get the data out. Welcome to the USSA comrades!
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