Is anyone surprised in the least by this admission and navel gazing from the Fish Wrap? (Via Michelle Malkin and Jammie Wearing Fools)
The quotations come back redacted, stripped of colorful metaphors, colloquial language and anything even mildly provocative.
They are sent by e-mail from the Obama headquarters in Chicago to reporters who have interviewed campaign officials under one major condition: the press office has veto power over what statements can be quoted and attributed by name.
Most reporters, desperate to pick the brains of the president’s top strategists, grudgingly agree. After the interviews, they review their notes, check their tape recorders and send in the juiciest sound bites for review.
The verdict from the campaign —an operation that prides itself on staying consistently on script —is often no, Barack Obama does not approve this message. …
“We don’t like the practice,†said Dean Baquet, managing editor for news at The New York Times. “We encourage our reporters to push back. Unfortunately this practice is becoming increasingly common, and maybe we have to push back harder.â€
As Michelle points out, they won’t push back, they’ll just continue to act as arms for the guy they want elected, sacrificing their principles. It’s no wonder people trust the media not much more than politicians. It’s a sad state if affairs when a group that was mentioned explicitly in the 1st Amendment so that they could keep tabs on Government are allowing politicians to write their stories.
The old media is no more. Good riddance.