Stonewalled: One Reporter's Fight for Truth in Obama's Washington

by Sharyl Attkisson

David Sanger, chief Washington correspondent of the Times, says, “This is the most closed, control freak administration I’ve ever covered.” Times public editor Margaret Sullivan: “It’s turning out to be the administration of unprecedented secrecy and unprecedented attacks on a free press.” Financial Times correspondent Richard McGregor: “Covering this White House is pretty miserable in terms of getting anything of substance to report on in what should be a much more open system.” ABC News White House correspondent Ann Compton: “He’s the least transparent of the seven presidents I’ve covered in terms of how he does his daily business.” Josh Gerstein of Politico: “If the story is basically one that they don’t want to come out, they won’t even give you the basic facts.” Washington correspondent Josh Meyer: “There is across-the-board hostility to the media. . . . They don’t return repeated phone calls and e-mails. They feel entitled to and expect supportive media coverage.”

And yey the hyena pack shrill against President Trump. Incredible!

I have a slightly different interpretation of the administration’s sensitivities. It’s not that they’re really so sensitive. They’re simply executing a well-thought-out strategy to harass reporters and editors at the slightest air of negativity so as to impact the next news decisions. To provide so much unpleasant static and interference that we may subconsciously alter the way we report stories. To consume so much of our time explaining and justifying what we’ve reported, that we begin to self-censor in the future. They accuse us of “piling on,” when all we’re doing is accurately covering their actions and the outcome of their decisions. But what human being doesn’t instinctively learn to avoid negative, unpleasant feedback? Let’s not use that phrase in our story. Yes, it’s accurate, but the White House will go nuts over it. Maybe if we soften it a little, we can avoid some headaches. We don’t want to appear to be—piling on.

Socialist/Democrats have only one mode; you will be in subjection, you will obey your betters.