UPDATED | Obama Energy Dept. Literally Re-writing History; Will Media Report?

October 19th, 2011 6:35 PM

Update (10:00 EDT, Oct. 20): CNBC has an update/correction on the story:

<<Update: On Wednesday evening, a Department of Energy spokesman said that the press releases had been returned to their original content as a result of CNBC's inquiry about the changes.

Correction: A previous headline on this article incorrectly characterized the press releases as being related to Solyndra.>>

Is the Obama administration literally rewriting history when it comes to the Solyndra scandal Energy Department's solar energy loan programs?

"Someone affiliated with the Department of Energy has been going back to make changes to press releases posted on the Internet weeks and months ago," Eamon Javers of CNBC reported this afternoon.


It remains to be seen what attention if any this attracts from other media outlets, such as the broadcast networks.

"The changes occurred in two press releases from the Department of Energy's loan guarantee program — the same program that has been the center of controversy surrounding the failed solar company Solyndra," Javers noted. "In a statement, a spokesman for the Department of Energy said that the changes were made by outside contractors for the department responsible for maintaining the Loan Programs Office website."

Perhaps this really isn't such a big deal, at least compared to the much more serious aspects of the loan approval process in the first place, but one imagines if this happened under the Bush administration's watch, the scrutiny of government missteps, including altering the public record, would be much greater.