So, Obama deserved a heads-up? Why? I think that’s unethical journalism because it gives the subject of the story an opportunity to spin the facts in advance of the story.
Team Obama is doing a boatload of “spinning” now, as more come out of the woodwork to report their experience. What they are doing, tho, isn’t so much ‘spin’ as it is a frontal assault. All the better for all to see.
I don’t think this really comes close to ‘unethical journalism.’ We don’t know the context or content of that phone call, but in summary it seems Woodward called to let Sperling know what he’d written and that it’d be in the next day’s paper. He wasn’t calling to ask if it was ok to publish his story, or asking how the WH would like the story written. It was a fait accompli. I think that isn’t so unusual nor confined to Dem Administations only who get a heads up.