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Organic, local, natural, trans-fat free, free-range, grass-fed ... the supermarket offers enough options to send even the savviest list-maker wandering for hours. But for many Bostonians, those choices are out of reach.

Some of Boston's neighborhoods are becoming "food deserts," where little to no healthy food can be found nearby. Even when nutritious food is available, prices and other limitations are forcing families to shop at convenience stores or choose between eating and other necessities.

Dr. John Cook, an associate professor of pediatrics at the Boston University School of Medicine recently conducted research assessing the affordability of healthy food in Boston. "There are areas around Boston that can legitimately be called food deserts," he says, naming Mattapan and East Boston as candidates. "There are no major supermarkets in Mattapan's boundaries." Cook adds that there is one medium-sized market, but because public transportation is so minimal in the area, "gypsy taxis" often hover near the doors.

If residents don't have the time or resources to travel miles to a supermarket, they shop at convenience marts and corner stores that rely on tobacco and lottery sales for their revenue, and carry mostly canned or processed foods.

"The least expensive foods are the most calorie-dense and most nutrient-sparse," Cook says.

Hunger and food insecurity has risen dramatically in the state in recent years. A study by the Greater Boston Food Bank found that the number of people who sought food assistance increased by 14 percent between 2005 and 2001, while one-third of those with assistance reported their children weren't eating enough because they couldn't afford it.

In 2007, Project Bread's "Status Report on Hunger in Massachusetts" found a 22 percent increase in food insecurity since 2004. They also reported that low-income children receive more than half of their daily calories from public schools. Meanwhile, over 71 percent of Boston public school students qualified for the city's free or reduced price lunch program in 2006, which means their household incomes were below 130 percent of the poverty line, according to the Boston Foundation's Boston Indicators Project.

A healthy diet for low-income households, especially those receiving food stamps, has become nearly impossible. Boston Medical Center (BMC) tested the price of the Thrifty Food Plan (TFP), the dietary and monetary framework by which the USDA determines food stamp allotments, in Boston and Philadelphia. BMC found the monthly cost of TFP is $27 more than the maximum monthly food stamp allowance. The deficit is even more serious considering that the average food stamp benefit is far below the maximum.

"In Boston and Philadelphia you cannot buy the Thrifty Food Plan with the dollar amount that the government says you should be able to," Cook says.

BMC also priced out a healthier cheap diet than the outdated TFP, using whole grains and fresh produce, to comply with the American Heart Association's diet recommendations. That plan was even less affordable.

"There was a deficit of about $150 a month that the family would need over and above the maximum food stamp allotment," says Dr. Vivien Morris, Community Initiatives Director for BMC's Nutrition and Fitness for Life Program, who was involved in the study.

"It's not that they are not good shoppers," says Morris, who added that a family will often turn to the cheapest, most calorie-dense food when under budget pressure. "If they had an adequate food budget, they wouldn't be forced to make these unfortunate choices."

Morris places more of the blame on agricultural policy, the loss of New England farmland and the associated transportation costs that make food here so expensive.

"Produce costs have risen tremendously," Morris says. Although food costs vary nationally, "the federal government, when setting up food stamp rates, doesn't make a distinction."

Boston's food dilemma parallels a growing crisis across the nation and the globe. Staples like wheat, rice and dairy products are skyrocketing in cost. The price of peanut butter has jumped 19 percent, and spaghetti has increased 63 percent since last May. Milk now costs more than $4 a gallon.

"I think it's always been a public health problem," Morris said of food security in Boston. "I think what's new is recognizing its impact on obesity, and not only under-nutrition."

Morris, a long-time Mattapan resident, founded the Mattapan Food and Fitness Coalition (MFFC), a grassroots organization aimed at improving the community's access to, and awareness of, healthy food and physical activity. The MFFC began a small farmers market in Mattapan last summer, accepting food stamps and Women, Infants and Children (WIC) and seniors' coupons.

"What we're trying to do in Mattapan mirrors what we're trying to do citywide," Morris says, referring to the Boston Collaborative for Food and Fitness (BCFF), an organization that hopes to curb obesity and increase physical activity in the city. The BCFF aims to increase the amount of locally grown and consumed food in Boston from 2 to 10 percent.

In its second year, the BCFF is assessing Boston's least-advantaged communities, including Mattapan, Dorchester, Roxbury, and East Boston. Kate Howell, executive director of Red Tomato (a nonprofit that connects local farmers with markets), and a member of the BCFF's executive committee, says anecdotal evidence shows concern for Boston's food situation.

"I don't think there's any low-income neighborhood that isn't underserved," Howell says. She adds that inner cities should have a retail food source every mile. "We don't have that," she says. "And sometimes, we really don't have it."

Meanwhile, health issues are an increasing concern among low-income families. The Department of Public Health's DPH WIC program, which provides services to pregnant women and those with small children, now has their highest enrollment to date, at 134,795, according to Donna Rheaume, a DPH spokeswoman.

Deborah Frank is the founder and director of the Grow Clinic at BMC, which treats children who lack the nutrition necessary for normal gdevelopment. She says the clinic's referrals have jumped 17 percent since this time last year. Forty percent of new referrals seeking immediate treatment are infants less than a year old.

"It's pretty overwhelming," Frank says. With rising living costs, daily stress and increasing food prices, "everything is converging on the bodies of babies."

Obesity rates are also highest in the same communities that are being called food deserts. According to 2005 data by the Boston Public Health Commission, Mattapan has the highest level of people who are overweight or obese at 70 percent, with Dorchester in second place at 64 percent.

A University of Washington study found that the highest obesity rates tend to occur in the poorest communities, and that poverty is associated with low-quality diets that are high in fat and low in fruit and vegetable consumption.

But Howell says that in Boston, geography is the determining factor. "What they've found is people's eating habits have less to do with their income and more to do with accessibility," she says. "What they have around them is unhealthy food."

Cultural differences can also complicate access in underserved communities, which are accustomed to particular foods.

"Frequently if [certain foods] are not available, they will adapt in ways that are not as healthy," Cook says, adding that Mattapan has the largest Haitian-American community outside of New York City, and Latino East Boston residents often have to travel miles to Chelsea's Market Basket to find culturally traditional foods.

The Food Project, a farming organization with offices in Dorchester, Lincoln and Lynn, attempts to abate this pattern, says Jen James, its communications director.

"There are things that we grow in the city that are distinctly grown for the customers we have at the farmers market," James says, adding that products like hot peppers, collard greens and okra are grown specifically for Boston neighborhoods.

The Food Project grows over a quarter million pounds of food each year, donating to shelters and selling produce at their own farmers markets. James noted that many residents have to travel by bus out of their neighborhood to be able to find fresh, healthy produce.

While the Food Project's seven farmers markets all accept food stamps, many others do not because of the high cost of installing a wireless terminal (needed to process the electronic food stamps) coupled with low participation rates, according to Jeff Cole, executive director of the Massachusetts Federation of Farmers' Markets.

The typical demographic for farmers markets is older, college-educated women, with very little traffic in food stamp recipients. In stark contrast, before the switch to electronic stamps (EBT) in the '80s, Worcester's markets saw approximately $12,000 a year in food stamps, according to Cole.

"It's a new generation," Cole said of the drop-off. "After 20 years, people have developed completely different shopping habits. That's a very very difficult thing to overcome."

New Haven's CitySeed farmers markets began accepting EBT food stamps in 2005. Benjamin Gardner, a program coordinator for CitySeed, said their EBT sales of $1,551 last year is a very low proportion of their total sales.

"It has partly to do with awareness," Gardner said. Because EBT stamps have long been out of use in open-air markets, many people do not know when a market near them has the capability.

Alternatively, WIC participants and seniors can receive coupons from the Farmers' Market Nutrition Program (FMNP), which began in 1986, before becoming a federal program in 1992. However, recipients only get $10 per season per family member, according to David Webber, Boston coordination for FMNP.

"It was originally more of a nutrition education and promotional program," Webber says. "It wasn't meant to be a food subsidy."

Between hunger relief efforts at food pantries and selling community shares that often go to the higher-income residents, those in the middle can be left behind.

"There's kind of a gap in terms of who we're serving," says Meg Coward, executive director of Waltham Community Fields, a farm that developed as a hunger relief effort, donating produce they grew to local agencies. But Coward says they are putting together a food map of Waltham and have set up a pilot farmers market in the town.

"We'll offer our produce at subsidized rates to make our produce available to people who are in that gap," Coward says.

Maggie Cohn, executive director of the BFCC, says that when they finish their report on Boston's access to healthy food, they can begin to transform the landscape.

"We're going to try to change the system," she says. They expect to work closely with small businesses and public schools, and address topics like how much land is set aside for farming and the length of the farmers market season.

Dr. Hugh Joseph of the School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University says that telling people to eat well isn't enough.

"If we really want people to eat more fruits and vegetables, we have to have a policy aimed at that," he says, adding that efforts in education, changes in food subsidies and shifting the national addiction to meat are avenues for initiating change.

"We tend to eat what's available," he says. "I would argue that if people ate a healthier, more sustainable diet, it wouldn't necessarily be more expensive. But it's a gradual process."

Last week, Mayor Thomas Menino proposed a revision of the ordinance for newsracks, handy dispensers like the one you opened to grab this very paper. The mayor's legislation for the City Council rekindles a long-time debate where free speech pushes up against street clutter.

The city's current ordinance calls for a "one time only Certificate of Compliance fee" of $150 for publishers to place newsboxes around the city. The mayor's revision would require a $300 annual application fee for the certificate, which would be updated every year. He's also tacked on an annual fee of $25 per newsrack. The application itself would be more rigorous (requiring pictures of each location, with specs on the distance from curbs and crosswalks). Currently, the certificate sanctions a distributor "notwithstanding the number of newsracks." The mayor's proposal would institute a 300-rack cap on distribution.

In a letter to the City Council, Menino explained the changes would ensure the safety of pedestrians. "The city will be able to make certain that newsracks do not interfere with street cleaning or otherwise contribute to the soiling of the city streets and sidewalks," he wrote, adding, "This content-neutral regulation does not impede any person or entity's right to free speech protected under the First Amendment."

Not everyone agrees on that point. Richard Karpel, executive director of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, says capping newsboxes at 300 raises concerns about free dissemination of information. "This really treads First Amendment grounds," he says. "Cleanliness and safety are legitimate issues the city government needs to respond to, but you can't just throw out the baby with the bathwater. The restrictions need to be carefully tailored to the issues."

Dot Joyce, Menino's spokeswoman, insists that no publication has reached the 300 mark. Employment News has 296 newsracks, the Boston Globe has 294 and the Weekly Dig has 284, according to city records. "This isn't something we picked up randomly. We consulted many different cities, and most have a limit," Joyce says, citing Cambridge and Minneapolis among the model metropolises. "There are only so many streets, and those streets are only so big. There has to be some regulation."

The New England Press Association (NEPA)'s executive director Brenda Reed says some papers are teetering close to the 300 cap. "Once you start limiting rather than addressing the root issue of cleanliness and public safety, you're on a slippery slope," she says. "Today those numbers may be fine. They may be fine forever, but limiting them won't address the root issue."

Karpel says he has witnessed a national trend of newsbox restrictions. "We've noticed it in the last five to 10 years. The response is different in each case," he says. "In San Francisco and New York City, there are certain neighborhoods where they require multi-unit boxes."

In fact, Menino tried to implement a similar policy. Beacon Hill banned newsboxes for historical reasons in 1996. The Back Bay followed suit in 2001, as City Hall floated the idea of "newscondos," six-unit boxes provided by Wall USA, the company that signed a 20-year contract with the city that same year. The Back Bay ban culminated in a federal case filed by the ACLU, NEPA, the Dig, Improper Bostonian and the now-defunct Editorial Humor, which the city won in 2004. Newscondos never went into effect, but the idea was floated again in 2006.

When asked if a newscondo proposal was in the works, Joyce replied, "I know they've looked at it in the past, but I don't know the answer to that."

The mayor's revised ordinance would also make the Department of Public Works (DPW) responsible for enforcement. The DPW is currently responsible for enforcement of violations, which are reported by Inspectional Services. Sgt. Mike Mackan, a code enforcement officer with Inspectional Services, says that of the 337 violations reported last year, some were noticed by officers, and others were called in. "Right now, if they're in violation, we document it and call DPW. DPW notifies the operator. If they fail to fix it within 10 days, we'll go there with DPW, and point out the violation."

Joyce says this joint responsibility confuses communication for the departments and box owners. "We have increased fees for the boxes, so that will go toward any training that's needed for Public Works," she says. "I don't know if all of it will, or if it will flow through the general fund, or straight to coffers."

These fees and the cap could hurt some papers more than others. "It's not just the alternative press, it's any paper with free circulation," says Karpel. "The Globe is delivered by subscription, the Metro pays people to hand out papers. The Phoenix and the Dig are both smaller and use a different business model of free distribution. But ultimately, it's going to affect any publication that uses newsboxes."

"It's too much of a coincidence. It's one of the reasons the City Council will be taking a hard look at all of those numbers and expecting answers."

--- City Councilor Steve Murphy, on the awfully suspicious illness that reportedly forced 122 Boston firefighters call in sick on Memorial Day. 6.4.08

"I don't know what you're talking about, bro. I don't know where this is coming from."

--- New England Patriots offensive lineman Nicholas Kaczur, to a Globe reporter who asked him if he'd gone undercover for the DEA after getting busted for OxyContin. 6.4.08

The MBTA's board of directors met Thursday to mull over the more recent crises affecting the T. The board, unimaginatively comprised of old guys in ill-fitting suits, heard testimony about budget adjustments and funding for cleaning and repair projects. But the issue on everyone's mind was the May 27th Green Line crash that killed a train operator and injured about a dozen passengers.

Secretary of Transportation Bernard Cohen opened the meeting with a moment of silence for Terrese Edmonds, the driver who died in the accident.

Stephan MacDougall, president of the Boston Carmen's Union, Local 589, thanked other MBTA employees and the first-responders for their help following the accident. "My gratitude to these agencies is immeasurable," he said, before switching to a defensive tone, urging people to resist drawing hasty conclusions about the crash's cause. "I want to caution everyone, there are no secrets," he said. "Don't engage in speculation." Passengers reported Edmonds used a cellphone while driving. National Transportation Safety Board investigators have already ruled out track, signal and brake malfunctions. They've also determined that Edmonds was gunning 37 mph; she should not have exceeded 10 mph.

Daniel Grabauskas, the MBTA's general manager, didn't say much on the subject. He read from a letter about the crash that was sent to MBTA employees, thanking the first responders on the scene, supporting the Edmonds family and vowing to "try to get to the bottom."

The crash was only the latest in a slew of recent MBTA accidents. In May, a trolley derailed and caught fire on Comm. Ave.; in February, a trolley hit a truck on the B line; in December, two trolleys rear-ended in Boylston station.

After graduation your granny bought you a car and you moved into your parents' basement. Life is not so easy for the graduates of the Pine Street Inn's Job Training program, who celebrated their commencement with caps and gowns, a keynote speech from the governor and catering from the Inn's kitchen.

The 125 graduates had completed either a 10-week food services course, a 14-week building maintenance training, STRIVE (a three-week job readiness preparation), or a combination of the programs.

Lyndia Downie, executive director of the Pine Street Inn, said this was the program's eighth year celebrating with a ceremony. "When we first started doing this, people asked me, 'Is graduation from a homeless shelter something to be proud of?'" she told the crowd. "Yes, we're in the shelter business, yes, we're in the housing business, but really, that's just a vessel for our message, which is about hope."

Leeland Calhoun checked in to a detox center in 2006, and after his 28 days, he sought further treatment. "I got into the Men's Transitional Housing Program at the Pine Street Inn. I did all three training programs," he said. "And, most importantly, I completed them." He's currently working in WBZ TV's food services, but plans to attend community college in the fall. "This has rekindled my childhood dreams that I could be whoever I wanted to be," he said, before becoming emotional while thanking his family. "Today, we are not invisible," he told his fellow graduates.

Gov. Patrick commented on the infectious emotion of Calhoun's speech. "I know Mrs. Calhoun was crying, I think we were all moved," he said. "I'm glad to be here, but I can't believe I had to follow him!"

The governor spoke about the state's effort, spearheaded by Rep. Byron Rushing (who also attended the ceremony), to end homelessness in the Commonwealth. "It's not complicated," he said. "We need to address the whole person, not treat them as a statistic. We'll address housing, but also jobs and treatment."

A customer in the card shop where I work took a step back from the Father's Day wall in disgust. "My dad doesn't know how to fix anything!" she said, referring to the preponderance of tool-related greeting cards celebrating the holiday. "He doesn't golf, doesn't fish," she added, negating about 80 percent of the rest of her options. Eventually, she left the store empty-handed, presumably to find a place that sold something fitting her reality.

Odds are, she'll have a hard time finding it.

Father's Day is stuck in a 1950s ideal of fatherhood: Dad's the breadwinner, who wants nothing more after a long week at the office than to spend a Saturday morning at the links before grilling up dinner for his wife and 2.5 children. Never mind the fact that plenty of Americans don't have a parental figure fitting that description.

Mother's Day is, if anything, worse. It's about makeup and shoe-shopping and getting a day off from housework, characteristics that many, but not nearly all, mothers share. My store even sells a card depicting a woman collapsed on a couch while her husband and child look on in horror. "Oh no!" the cringe-worthy caption reads. "The server's down!"

The drastic difference between the two holidays is further emphasized even more clearly in gift recommendations offered on television and on store shelves. Can't think of what to get Mom? Stop by your local florist. Looking for ideas for Dad? Well, guys love gadgets. There are certain things only mommies do, and other things that daddies do, and never the twain shall meet.

Maybe these images still reflect a majority of American families' lives, or maybe they cut close enough to the truth that shoppers will recognize something of their parent in the paper portrayal. Or maybe people don't realize the subtle message these holidays send, that all good families fit into one category and if yours doesn't, you're shit outta luck.

Is this really what Mother's and Father's Days are about—reinforcing outdated gender stereotypes? Teaching each new generation of daughters and sons the appropriate and socially acceptable activities for their parents, which only come in the form of one woman and one man? If so, I'll go without, thank you very much.

Mother's Day and Father's Day were created in a different era, a time when the mainstream family categorized itself in only one way. But this is the 21st century. Not only do we have more variety in our nuclear families, we accept more variety in our gender roles. Moms like technology and dads stay home to raise kids.

Is it wrong to set aside a day to honor the person or people who raised you? Of course not. But why not honor them as individuals, not the way marketing says you should? You'll be turning another commercialized holiday into the meaningful experience it was intended to be. And your parents, whoever they are, will thank you.

The Longfellow Bridge will be closed for July 4th fireworks spectators, because while precarious support beams are OK for cars to drive over, they are unsafe for pedestrians. MINUS 1

Tweeter Home Entertainment Group can't afford to stick the Mansfield amphitheater with its name any longer. "Tweeter Center" had a ring to it that "Comcast Center" just doesn't possess. MINUS 1

The Department of Public Works employs 19 drawtenders to man the city's bridges—averaging a mean $50K each. Apparently they've been spotted watching satellite TV in an air-conditioned trailer, washing their cars and grilling while on duty. The agency is under the eye of the Boston Finance Commission for time-card fraud and nonattendant workers. The T's taxpayer dollars (almost 200K of 'em) need to go somewhere ... why not pay for hot dog buns? MINUS 1

Harvard professor and child psychiatrist Dr. Joseph Biederman, whose work increased children's prescriptions for antipsychotic meds, earned about $1.6 million in consulting fees from drug companies. Conflict of interest much? MINUS 1

The RMV and the state police are cracking down on the misuse of handicapped placards. A third of those used in busy Boston neighborhoods belonged to relatives—usually deceased—of the drivers, or had been issued incorrectly. The perpetrators were fined. More parking for the rest of us? PLUS 2

They call it the Red Line for a reason; for the second time in as many weeks a "small electrical fire" broke out on the tracks. Monday's fire at Porter Square disrupted the morning commute for an hour. As if our faith in the T wasn't shaken enough already. MINUS 2

A Weymouth housing project bans kiddie pools after a Department of Housing and Community Development memo recommended banning them, along with swing sets and trampolines, because housing authorities could be sued if a tenant is injured. And because they hate fun. MINUS 1

Tragic lech and State Sen. Jim "Marty Walsh" Marzilli enters McLean Hospital after sexually harassing two women, smacking into a hot dog stand while fleeing police, leading them to a tearful confrontation in a parking garage and giving them name of his colleague, State Rep. Martin Walsh. MINUS 2

Gov. Patrick says he will not eliminate the Massachusetts income tax, despite the increasing popularity of a movement to eradicate it. A petition drive led by former Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Carla Howell raised $12,000 to continue collecting signatures. This amount is one-hundredth of a percent of the revenue brought in from income taxes each year. EVEN?

How about this weather, huh? Children are melting and yesterday the ozone level was so bad an old lady spontaneously combusted. Pool party! PLUS 1!

THIS WEEK'S TOTAL: MINUS 6

LAST WEEK'S TOTAL: MINUS 7

There's nothing Media Farm loves more than a good newspaper war. It appears to be too hot out for local media-types to engage in anything that strenuous, though, so for the moment—until Kevin Cullen bites the ear off some poor Boston Magazine intern—we'll have to settle for some insidery passive-aggressive sniping, with tiny shavings of duplicity on top. So here goes.

There are two different official gay pride guides on the streets right now. Frequent readers of Media Farm may not have realized this, owing to halfway-important preoccupations you're no doubt saddled with, but it's true. And, to hear Bay Windows editor Laura Kiritsy tell it, one of those guides hates the gays. And one doesn't. Guess which one Kiritsy runs?

On Thursday, Kiritsy warned of "a lesser impostor" masquerading as the official guide to the sanitized celebration of gayness and corporate pap. Readers should feel free to browse the pages of the imposter, Kiritsy, continued ... as long as they hate all gay people ever. "But for those of you who care about good business practice and like to support businesses that support the LGBT community, just know that 'official' affiliation with Boston Pride is based on a contractual agreement between the Pride Committee and whoever they're doing business with, in this case the publishers of Bay Windows, Jeff Coakley and Sue O'Connell. Coakley and O'Connell earned 'official' Boston Pride sponsorship status by agreeing to share revenue from advertising sales to the guide with the Committee. And the revenue the committee gets goes to make Boston Pride fun and fabulous for you. Any other guide claiming to be 'official' is basically ripping off the Pride Committee and in effect, ripping you off."

So, basically, the New England Blade (the old In Newsweekly) lost the "official Pride guide" handle. But they're still going to tell local gays which light beers and four-door sedan manufacturers most want to pander to them. But these gays shouldn't listen. Unless they love Mitt Romney or something.

End of story? Not quite. It turns out that Bay Windows and the InBladeNewsweekly have more in common than the word "official" splashed across their Pride guides. They also share a thing for sex offender/ad salesman Bill Berggren.

Last year, when In Newsweekly was still keeping their Pride official, Berggren was their associate publisher. He was also fundraising chair of the Boston Pride Committee—until, that is, the Dig reported that Berggren was a Level 2 sex offender with a rap sheet featuring convictions for possession of child pornography, indecent assault and possession of pornographic material with the intent to distribute it to minors. Berggren resigned from the Pride Committee in the article's wake, to gloating coverage from Bay Windows. A few months later, In Newsweekly fired him for allegedly stealing portions of their advertiser database and selling clients on N'Touch New England, a startup he launched while still on the job. And now ... well, Berggren's startup has folded, and he's selling ads for Bay Windows.

Small town, isn't it?

Mayhill Fowler has ruined journalism. Again.

In April, the internet-bound old lady nearly slayed Barack Obama when she had the temerity to record him making generalizations about Pennsylvania's poor people during a fundraiser with rich people and then expose said tape to Arianna Huffington's cyber-hyenas. It drew protestation from the Obama camp, which claimed fundraisers are off-record events.

This time, the pseudo-reporter goaded former President Bill Clinton into losing his shit about Vanity Fair scribe Todd Purdum, whom he called "sleazy," "dishonest," "slimy" and a "scumbag." Clinton assumed he could speak less-than-lucidly, because Fowler never identified herself as a reporter. "I think we can safely say he thought I was a member of the audience," she told the Times, which argued the incident has raised hackles about "the dos and don'ts of ethical reporting in the YouTube age."

Jonathan Alter, who writes for Newsweek, a magazine that apparently hasn't gone bankrupt yet, has an opinion on the subject. This is it: "She has hurt the very cause of a free flow of public information that she claims she wants to assist ... You identify yourself when you're interviewing somebody. It's just a form of cheating not to."

But, according to some blogger the Times scraped off a barroom floor, ethicists like Alter are hurting America. No, really, they are. "It's hurting America that journalists consider their first loyalty to be to their subjects, and not to the people they're reporting for," said Jane Hamsher. Established journalistic ethics "protect this clubby group of journalists and their high-ranking political subjects, and keep access to themselves."