Patterico's Pontifications

4/15/2014

Sharyl Attkisson: Other Reporters Are Being Shut Down Just Like I Was

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 8:17 pm



Sharyl Attkisson announced tonight that she was going to answer a few questions on Twitter. She responded to each one in the same format: a one-word summary of the question, followed by the Twitter handle of the person to whom she was responding, followed by a pithy answer.

I managed to get in one question before she left, and I thought I would share the question and answer with y’all. First my question:

Screen Shot 2014-04-15 at 8.07.52 PM

and her response:

Screen Shot 2014-04-15 at 8.08.05 PM

For background, see this post.

There are more stories like hers. Count on it.

24 Responses to “Sharyl Attkisson: Other Reporters Are Being Shut Down Just Like I Was”

  1. Ding.

    Patterico (9c670f)

  2. There may well be others, but why are they all (but Sharyl) monolithically clammed up? Usually, by the time we get to this point in a president’s second term there are numerous tell-all exposes. But noy here. Not even from journalists who are being stifled.

    G Joubert (e6b234)

  3. Well Risen was? being dragged into the investigation into Merlin, same with Sanger and Stuixtnet,

    narciso (3fec35)

  4. if you wanna sing out, sing out

    and if you wanna be free, be free

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  5. I only have a few hundred Twitter followers, but I thought it would be explosive when I tweeted your twitter convo, and yet ~sigh……

    sybilll (b2cda8)

  6. And it’s not just spiking stories, it’s twisting careers. In most of the media (the left’s 90+%) no one gets into editorial or management if they are not politically aligned. Sure, you can be a John Stossel at ABC, but you are going to die a features reporter.

    If political discrimination laws were applied to newsrooms (I am NOT advocating this), the upheaval would be worse than the whole civil rights battle combined. The system *requires* political discrimination.

    Kevin M (b11279)

  7. George Will left ABC because of this kind of ceiling. He waited patiently for his turn at the helm of This Week, as he was a natural heir to Brinkley, but after watching the parade of politically reliable hacks and fools they gave it to, he eventually gave up.

    Kevin M (b11279)

  8. by the time we get to this point in a president’s second term there are numerous tell-all exposes

    I guess it all depends on what the editors think will be interesting. And telling tales about the Greatest President Since Forever isn’t interesting.

    Kevin M (b11279)

  9. This should be a big story but the fact that reporters carry so much water for the administration means it won’t be so.

    AZ Bob (533fbc)

  10. I think you all know I am a journalist by training and education.

    By training and education, I will tell you that journalism is lost.

    Ag80 (eb6ffa)

  11. Given the ferocity of retaliation of this administration, and years of indoctrination at J school, and knowing that your editor most certainly would not back you if you break a big story, it is hardly surprising that there are no Lone Wolf McJournalists out there. Even if they wanted to. Which they don’t.
    Shorter version, “Ezra Klein”, he explained.

    Gazzer (6ac6ee)

  12. It takes a heavy hand to silence honorable men and women. The threat of punishment or retribution for speaking out must be demonstrably credible and firmly applied to keep lid on scandals like Fast-n-Furious, Benghazi, or IRS.

    It’s been over a year now and the CIA operatives in Benghazi are still being prevented from telling their story to Congressional investigators. Consider well just what level of intimidation it takes to keep patriotic warriors from stepping up and informing the American people what happened so it won’t happen again.

    ropelight (d71a57)

  13. Well, if these reporters are allowing themselves to be shut down they aren’t real reporters. But then I’ve been saying that about the big media bootlickers for a while now.

    Glenn (647d76)

  14. Glenn, are you for real ?
    There’s this person called “The Editor,” who generally is The Decider regarding which stories get printed.
    And in broadcast journalism there’s a person called “The Producer” who decides which stories run on the air.

    Sharyl Atkisson does not get to tell her Producer what to do.
    Good Grief, Charlie Brown.

    Elephant Stone (8a7f08)

  15. Normally high profile investigative reporters are given wide latitude, just so they can assure their editors the story is accurate. But they know when they are being shut off. It doesn’t normally come from just a single incident, though sometimes it does.

    Michael Isikoff is one who had the story of decade spiked when working for Newsweek. That story was of a sitting President who perjured himself when giving testimony to a federal judge.

    Woodward and Bernstein were allowed to publish without naming their primary source to the Editor in Chief of the Post.

    Incidentally, Isikoff has just parted company from NBC. It’s just my guess, but it is likely for the much same reasons as Ms. Attkinsson is leaving her job.

    What a great team Attkisson and Isikoff would make at Fox News.

    Corky Boyd (c95a33)

  16. @12:
    “It takes a heavy hand to silence honorable men and women.” posted ropelight.

    Dare I say that you may have answered your own question, if that is indeed a question. We will soon see what traction the honorable ones get as they go indie…

    gramps, the original (88af4c)

  17. Corky,

    Our pal Glenn says that when a reporter gets shut down, they “allowed” it to happen.

    Woodward and Bernstein were investigating a REPUBLICAN President.
    Sharyl Atkisson was investigating a DEMOCRAT President.

    Guess which report saw the light of day.

    Elephant Stone (8a7f08)

  18. “It takes a heavy hand to silence honorable men and women.”

    ropelight – Those heavy hands are in operation many places in the country. I know a reporter here who quit one of the networks about a year ago because of the crushing liberal bias of producers and management. Of course she will confess that to me and friends, but not publicly to avoid banishment by the industry, much like Atkinson avoids napalming bridges in the embedded clip.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  19. Note Yahoo’s top story Wed. evening:

    http://finance.yahoo.com/news/obama-promotes-society-helpless-victims-093000311.html

    Winning!

    gary gulrud (e2cef3)

  20. The law is an ass.

    And that goes double for the not.even.a.law.

    http://blog.heritage.org/2014/04/16/monstrous-injustice-conviction-15-year-old-recorded-bullying-must-reversed/

    gary gulrud (e2cef3)

  21. Isikoff, the one who made up the Koran in the toilet, that claimed 30-40 lives,

    narciso (3fec35)

  22. Corky,

    Dude, Isikoff is a snake.
    Get a clue.

    Elephant Stone (8a7f08)

  23. #18, I too have a friend who quit the newspaper business. He started work as a reporter right out of college, worked in every facet of news gathering, and eventually became editor of the opinion pages.

    In his late 50s at the top of his his career he suddenly quit and in his parting statement admitted he no longer recognized the profession.

    ropelight (20622b)

  24. Mark Steyn substituting for Rush Linbaugh:

    81% of the American public, according to some poll, believe President Obama is….

    …a liar.

    15% said that was not their opinion.

    They were probably read a whole list of characteristics and asked on each one whether they agreed strongly, somewhat, or disagreed somewhat or strongly.

    Sammy Finkelman (caf2ab)


Powered by WordPress.

Page loaded in: 0.0753 secs.