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Sharyl Attkisson Details the Obama 'Chilling Effect,'
Townhall.com ^ | April 14, 2014 | Katie Pavlich

Posted on 04/14/2014 2:28:47 PM PDT by Kaslin

Over the weekend former CBS Investigative Correspondent Sharyl Attkisson appeared on Fox News' Media Buzz to talk in detail about why she left the news network.

Now there have always been tensions, there have always been calls from the White House under any administration I assume, when they don’t like a particular story. But it is particularly aggressive under the Obama administration and I think it’s a campaign that’s very well organized, that’s designed to have sort of a chilling effect and to some degree has been somewhat successful in getting broadcast producers who don’t really want to deal with the headache of it. Why put on these controversial stories that we’re going to have to fight people on, when we can fill the broadcast with other perfectly decent stories that don’t ruffle the same feathers?

White House and Department of Justice regularly work with a certain tax-exempt group (that shall not be named) to smear reporters who dare look into and report on Obama administration scandals. Third, the White House been sued multiple times for failing to properly respond to Freedom of Information Requests. Fourth, President Obama has used the Espionage Act to punish people inside government for talking to reporters more than any other president in U.S. history. When the sources dry up, so do the investigative stories.

3. Corporate interests in bed with big government have a heavy hand when it comes to pushing back on newsrooms and reporters for exposing corruption and relationships with public officials and agencies.

4. Calling scandals "political" is a way to shut down debate and a tactic used to frame an issue as unimportant and irrelevant.

As an outside observer, I'm not willing to let the majority of reporters and their bosses slide on the fact that under the Bush administration they were extremely interested in every aspect of what the administration was doing (as they should have been) while under the Obama administration are willing to ignore major scandals like IRS targeting, Benghazi, Fast and Furious and others. It isn't only because of Obama's chilling effect, but because Obama is a Democrat and Bush was a Republican. Not to mention, the President of CBS News is David Rhodes. His brother, Ben Rhodes, serves as a deputy national security advisor at the White House.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: benghazi; cbsnews; liberalmedia; opfastandfurious; partisanmedia; seebsnews; sharylattkisson
The rest of the title is: Laments Lack of Investigative Reporting in News>
1 posted on 04/14/2014 2:28:47 PM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

Obama: Any and all criticism of me or my policies will be immediately construed as racism.


2 posted on 04/14/2014 2:31:51 PM PDT by allendale
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To: Kaslin

The MSM transitioned from progressive cheerleaders to full fledged operatives early in 2007 when journ-0-list was established.


3 posted on 04/14/2014 2:33:10 PM PDT by nascarnation (Toxic Baraq Syndrome: hopefully infecting a Dem candidate near you)
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To: Kaslin

Since when has a stonewalling White House ever stop intrepid reporters? When those reporters have their lips latched firmly to Obama’s..................


4 posted on 04/14/2014 3:39:10 PM PDT by MuttTheHoople (Nothing is more savage and brutal than justifiably angry Americans. DonÂ’t believe me? Ask the Germa)
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To: Kaslin

This article is racist. The facts in it are especially racist.


5 posted on 04/14/2014 4:29:59 PM PDT by Dagnabitt (Amnesty is Treason. Its agents are Traitors.)
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To: Kaslin

I am glad she is speaking out...but let us remember; she is also selling a BOOK.


6 posted on 04/14/2014 4:45:07 PM PDT by SoFloFreeper
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To: Kaslin

The Lewinski story was concealed by Newsweek until Drudge broke it online.

While this partisan reporting is nothing new, it is getting worse over time.


7 posted on 04/14/2014 4:46:23 PM PDT by Erik Latranyi
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To: Kaslin

It is as we have suspected all along.


8 posted on 04/14/2014 5:24:50 PM PDT by SuziQ
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To: Kaslin

Shouldn’t “The Rule” be enforced for any article by Katie Pavlich?


9 posted on 04/14/2014 5:42:23 PM PDT by Some Fat Guy in L.A. (Still bitterly clinging to rational thought despite it's unfashionability)
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