{"id":214358,"date":"2019-11-26T10:45:58","date_gmt":"2019-11-26T16:45:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=214358"},"modified":"2019-11-25T00:24:19","modified_gmt":"2019-11-25T06:24:19","slug":"planned-parenthood-asking-journalists-non-disclosure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/planned-parenthood-asking-journalists-non-disclosure\/","title":{"rendered":"Why does Planned Parenthood keep asking journalists to sign non-disclosure agreements?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It’s no secret that most of the media supports Planned Parenthood<\/a>, and is more than happy to carry water for them. Yet they still go out of their way to maintain secrecy, even among people who arguably could be considered allies. Planned Parenthood has evidently begun asking media outlets to sign NDAs — or non-disclosure agreements — and it seems to be because they’re worried about what people might discover.<\/p>\n

Planned Parenthood recently attempted to host a media happy hour. The only problem was, according to Vice<\/a>, the abortion corporation also requested that attendees sign NDAs, which Vice did not appreciate. After their reporter, Carter Sherman, refused to sign and told them she planned to write about their use of NDAs for reporters, they responded by saying it was a “mistake,” and e-mailed all of the journalists to tell them they didn’t need to sign it.<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Cover-up? Judge seals botched abortion records from Missouri Planned Parenthood<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

“Planned Parenthood is proud of the work we do to ensure that journalists and editors have access to the incredible staff, patients, services, and education that we provide,\u201d Erica Sackin, senior director of communications for Planned Parenthood, told Vice. \u201cWe pride ourselves on our transparency, and our support for freedom of the press as a pillar of our democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

There’s just one problem with that argument: this isn’t a one-time slip-up<\/em>. As Sherman pointed out, she had been asked to sign one before, and she had refused then, too. “In 2018, when I was signing up to cover the organization\u2019s \u201cPower of Pink\u201d volunteer training in Detroit, I realized that the registration included signing an NDA that would restrict me from sharing ‘confidential information’,” Sherman explaned. “That essentially included anything I learned ‘through any means of communication or observation’ from anyone affiliated with Planned Parenthood, which has positioned itself as a bulwark against an administration that regularly attacks press credibility.”<\/p>\n

Sherman was able to attend, but “it took a few days and the organization\u2019s tech team had to build a special online backdoor to bypass that part of the registration.” And for the happy hour, they initially told Sherman that “having attendees agree to NDAs was standard policy at all Planned Parenthood events,” which was the same thing she was told in 2018. This stifles not only on free speech and journalistic integrity, but also gives Planned Parenthood considerable power.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether it\u2019s an association like Planned Parenthood or a corporation, it\u2019s just giving them the ability to essentially control the narrative,\u201d Jane Kirtley, director of the Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and Law at the University of Minnesota, told Vice. But Sherman claimed in her article that this is somewhat justified, thanks to undercover investigations from “non-journalists”– her words — like Live Action and the Center for Medical Progress, even reiterating the old claim that these undercover videos have been “deceptively edited.” (This has long been proven false<\/a>, and Planned Parenthood’s attorneys even admitted in court<\/a> that the statements in CMP’s videos were indeed made by their employees.) But the larger question is still unanswered. Planned Parenthood claims they are perfectly innocent, that abortion is not their priority, and that they only want to provide health care to women.<\/p>\n