While it is hard to imagine our media class becoming something even closer to the stenographers for the Obama administration that they already are, this is the future we can expect according to Gary Pruitt, president of the Associated Press:
The U.S. government’s secret seizure of AP phone records has thrown a scare into some of the iconic news outlet’s sources, as well as those of other journalists. …
Pruitt said that after checking with reporters to get a sense of the impact six weeks into the revelations: “What I heard from our journalists should alarm everyone in this room.”
Some government officials have been “so fearful of talking to AP they wouldn’t even confirm a fact that had already been reported by numerous other media,” he said.
Pruitt said the chill is being felt beyond AP. “Journalists from other news organizations have personally told me that it has intimidated both official and nonofficial sources from speaking to them as well.”
Mission accomplished for the Obama administration. When journalists have no sources, all they can report on is what the government tells them to report on.
Nobody likes leaks, especially national security leaks, but those need to be handled internally. Going after the media in this way just isn’t acceptable.
Our Founders didn’t name-check the press in the First Amendment for no reason.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC
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