MOTUS A.D.: Journalism.gov: It’s all the news you need to know...

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Journalism.gov: It’s all the news you need to know...

Seriously? Is the press corpse still flapping their jibs about a lack of sunshine in the most transparent administration in the history of America?

Back in November, news organizations filed a formal complaint with the White House about the administration’s habit of “bypassing them to release ‘official’ photos of presidential meetings and events,” contending “visual press releases” have displaced independent coverage.

Ingrates; still whining and carrying on, just because they never got a response. It’s not as if we haven’t gone out of our way to keep the press in the loop:

And now I understand there’s further grumbling about Lady M not taking any reporters’ questions while on her official White House soft diplomacy trip to China. Butt let me point out, everything ~~we want you to know~~ you need to know is contained on the official White House ~~propaganda~~ information site.

The softer side of diplomacy

And if you sign up today you’ll not only get free email updates on Lady M’s trip, butt along with a small donation to OFA to help Big Guy continue to fundamentally transform America - you’ll also be registered to win a coupon good for 10% off your next Obamacare premium! (just pay separate processing and handling)

Since we’re talking about the press, I feel I should mention that bogus story about Jay-Jay getting questions from the press ahead of time in order to practice his answers. I trust all the stern denials have put that malicious rumor to bed. Even the reporter who made this accusation has walked it back, saying she mis-misunderstood the rules. And honestly, who would have believed her anyway? Have you not seen our little mouthpiece trying to burp out an appropriate answer?

If anything, it’s the other way around: Jay-Jay gives the press the questions ahead of time. Butt we officially deny that allegation as well.

And I see that one of the very few actual watchdog journalists, Sharyl Attkisson, has corroborated parts of the original allegation. That right there should be enough to convince most people that it lacks veracity:

Responding to comments regarding a Phoenix television reporter yesterday who initially claimed that the White House pre-screens questions from reporters, Attkisson said, “I wouldn’t (be) surprised if sometimes there is that level of cooperation with some questions. If I need something answered from the White House and they won’t tell me, I’ll call our White House Correspondent. They’re friendlier with the White House Correspondents in general. So the White House Correspondent may ask Jay Carney or one of his folks about an issue and they will be told ‘ask that at the briefing and we’ll answer it.’ They want to answer it in front of everybody. (snip) But I think people would be surprised at the level of cooperation reporters have in general with politicians.”

Although the most interesting part of (former CBS correspondent) Attkisson’s interview was this:

She also said it is more and more difficult for investigative reporters to get their stories published or on the air because of the trouble it may cause.

Duh! We are here to transform America, not discuss what “investigative reporters” consider to be problems!

According to Attkisson, a behind the scenes environment exists in which she and fellow national reporters can't "break original investigative stories." That climate is putting "unprecedented pressure," against reporters and news organizations to go for the easy stories, dumping reports that might rock the media boat into a dead-on-arrival file.

Drudge went even further down that road:

"One common theme during conversations with national news reporters," is that "critical investigative journalism is all but dead," tweeted Drudge. Drudge damned the Department of Justice (DOJ) headed by Eric Holder as the reason investigative stories under the Obama administration had all but ceased. He inferred the prevailing fear that the DOJ was tracking reporter's sources had effectively killed the information flow.

Sharyl Attkisson: the one and only intrepid (former) MSM journalist brave enough to go “there”

Fast and Furious? Solyndra? Libya? Benghazi? What was she thinking!?! She may have had a mic, but the pen and phone are mightier than the truth in this business, babe.