Posted on 05/29/2008 4:25:30 PM PDT by SmithL
New York (AP) -- CNN correspondent Jessica Yellin said Thursday she was referring to her time spent at MSNBC when she said she felt pressure not to report stories critical of the Bush administration during the time leading up to the Iraq war.
Yellin's initial comments, made during a discussion with Anderson Cooper on CNN Wednesday, shifted attention to the news media's performance following release of a critical assessment of the Bush administration by former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan. He wrote that Bush's strategy for selling the war was less than candid and honest.
During her CNN appearance, Yellin said the press corps was under enormous pressure from corporate executives to make sure the war was presented "in a way that was consistent with the patriotic fever in the nation and the president's high approval ratings."
The higher Bush's approval ratings, the more pressure she felt from news executives to put on positive stories about the president, she said. Pushed by Cooper to explain, Yellin said her bosses would turn down critical stories about the administration and try to put on positive pieces.
Yellin, a Harvard graduate, worked at ABC News as a White House correspondent from 2003 to 2007. She joined CNN in 2007 and is now a congressional correspondent; she was in Puerto Rico Thursday reporting on the upcoming Democratic primary.
Interest in her comments immediately exploded on the Internet, prompting her to issue a statement through CNN on Thursday. She was not made available by CNN to answer questions.
"Suddenly I'm being reported on," she wrote on a CNN Web log. "It's not the most comfortable position for a reporter."
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
They also need a lesson in the truth.
Criticize the President all you want, but quit pulling for the enemy and against our Troops!/Rant off
She is a liar.
They’d have to pressure me NOT to be patriotic and it wouldn’t work, not even if they used waterboarding.
Liars at CNN? I’m stuned /sarc
Besides, I have NEVER, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, seen a positive story about President Bush, ever.
She is a liar.
Have you seen this?
Yes. Thx for the ping.
Patriotism has been largely replaced in this country by partisanship.
Yeah, right.
Notice how it didn’t mention just wanting to report the facts.
She’s mad because she supposedly wasn’t allowed to report her particular spin.
What is she, about 3-ft 5?
Short is good
That'd be... just about right.
CNN reporters pressured to be patriotic -
I see that they were able to resist...
Yeah, they need to be “pressured” in order to feel patriotism.
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