WASHINGTON (AP) — Has the Justice Department taken President Barack Obama's promise of openness too far?
The dozens of reporters who receive department press releases by e-mail were suprised to get one Wednesday evening with this startling subject line:
"FEDERAL GRAND JURY RETURNS INDICTMENT ON INTERNET BOMB THREATS — good luck, this one sucked."
Eleven minutes later a corrected version was transmitted, without the editorial comment.
Turns out the department wasn't evaluating its own work in public. Justice spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler said the "unfortunate comment, put there by a junior press aide, referred to the difficulty in formatting the press release, not to its content." The line was meant to alert a press office editor to possible typographical errors.
