DOJ Quietly Removes References to Press Freedom and Gerrymandering From Policy Manual

Amid the handwringing of many in the corporate media over comedian Michelle Wolf's monologue at the White House Correspondents' Association over the weekend, few took notice of reports that the Justice Department took a step away from protecting journalists on Sunday, deleting language in its policy manual regarding press freedom as well as racial gerrymandering.

As Buzzfeedreported, the U.S. Attorneys' Manual includes the DOJ's policy priorities, and has been updated in recent months under orders by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, after undergoing no major changes since 1997.

In the new update, a section titled "Need for Free Press and Public Trial" was removed. The deleted passage had stressed the need to maintain "the constitutional requirements of a free press and public trials as well as the right of the people in a constitutional democracy to have access to information about the conduct of law enforcement officers, prosecutors and courts, consistent with the individual rights of the accused."

Far from prioritizing the need to ensure government transparency, a brief section on the department's policy for contact with media notes that "the right of the public to have access to information" about the DOJ should be balanced with other factors as officials decide when to release information. Employees are also now required to report "any contact with a member of the media about a DOJ matter."

The DOJ also removed all references to redrawing voting districts and gerrymandering along racial lines, and deleted a section that read, "The Voting Section defends from unjustified attack redistricting plans designed to provide minority voters fair opportunities to elect candidates of their choice and endeavors to achieve racially fair results where courts find...that redistricting plans constitute unconstitutional racial gerrymanders."

The changes follow numerous attacks on press freedom and voting rights by the Trump administration. Last week, the U.S. fell to 45th place on Reporters Without Borders' World Press Freedom Index, with the group citing President Donald Trump's anti-press rhetoric as furthering the "decline in journalists' right to report."

The administration's hostility towards full voting rights for Americans has been evidenced in the election commission Trump was forced to disband earlier this year, after it failed to prove his claims that the popular vote was stolen from him in the 2016 election by undocumented immigrants who voted illegally, and by a number of his appointments of judges who have built careers on fighting against voting rights.

On social media, Trump critics implored the corporate media to take note of the DOJ's policy changes.