In a Friday interview with talk radio host Chris Stigall, former-CBS investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson explained how the White House can sometimes get questions in advance of the daily briefing. When a reporter asks the White House something, “they will [sometimes] be told ‘ask that at the briefing and we’ll answer it,'” Attkisson explained, adding, “They [The White House] want to answer it in front of everybody. They do know it’s coming and they’ll call on you.”
Attkisson was commenting on a Thursday story about White House Spokesman Jay Carney allegedly telling a reporter (Carney denied saying this) that he receives questions in advance from the White House Press Corps. The Internet immediately blew up with denials and even some sanctimonious indignation from those covering the media.
Attkisson, however, isn’t outing some grand conspiracy but instead lays out a perfectly plausible scenario where the system is gamed in a way that will obviously benefit the White House. If true, she also described this accurately as “coordination” and a “level of cooperation” between reporters and the White House.
During her interview, Attkisson also told Stigall…
… 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.
“Nobody was interested in the stories. It didn’t seem to matter what the topic was. There’s sort of a problem all over, I talk to my colleagues in different mediums. There’s just a lot of pressure. Investigative reporting gets a lot of backlash. They don’t quite know how to deal with it. Why not just put on stories that don’t draw that kind of response?”
After twenty years, the Emmy-award winning Attkisson resigned from CBS earlier this month amid reports that the network’s left-wing bias was keeping her from getting airtime for her investigative reporting.
David Rhodes, president of CBS News, is the brother of Ben Rhodes, one of President Obama’s top National Security Advisors. ABC News reported that Ben Rhodes was very much involved in the Benghazi scandal, one of the Obama scandals Attkisson aggressively and successfully pursued.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC
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