None of the White House correspondents who spoke to The Post are hopeful that things will improve. âWhatâs our recourse?â says one. âHow do you force them?â
âThe reporters Iâve spoken to who have covered multiple administrations have said this is tighter, more restricted than other administrations,â Munro says. âThey donât like it. They donât have the power to change it.â
---------------------------------------
Finally, this week, reporters are pushing back. Even Jonathan Alter â who frequently appears on the Obama-friendly MSNBC â came forward to say he, too, had been treated horribly by the administration for writing something they didnât like.
âThere is a kind of threatening tone that, from time to time â not all the time â comes out of these guys,â Alter said this week. During the 2008 campaign swing through Berlin, Alter said that future White House press secretary Robert Gibbs disinvited him from a dinner between Obama and the press corps over it.
âI was told âDonât come,â in a fairly abusive e-mail,â he said. â[It] made what Gene Sperling wrote [to Woodward] look like patty-cake.â
-------------------
âI had a young reporter asking tough, important questions of an Obama Cabinet secretary,â says one DC veteran. âShe was doing her job, and they were trying to bully her. In an e-mail, they called her the vilest names â bitch, c--t, a--hole.â He complained and was told the matter would be investigated: âThey were hemming and hawing, saying, âWeâll look into it.â Nothing happened.â
------------------------
âTodayâs a perfect example,â he says. âJack Lew is sworn inâ â as US Treasury secretary, on Thursday â âand they didnât even allow a photographer in there. A reporter asked [press secretary] Jay Carney why, and his answer was, âItâs a family ceremony.â No! This is a high-ranking government official whose salary is paid for by taxpayers. No.â
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âThey donât need us as much. And to the extent that theyâre able to do that, theyâre undercutting the First Amendment, which guarantees a free press through many voices. If they put out their own material, itâs state-run media.â
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/beat_the_press_96lFrUNync5zuBZTiZ6aUL/0
âThe reporters Iâve spoken to who have covered multiple administrations have said this is tighter, more restricted than other administrations,â Munro says. âThey donât like it. They donât have the power to change it.â
---------------------------------------
Finally, this week, reporters are pushing back. Even Jonathan Alter â who frequently appears on the Obama-friendly MSNBC â came forward to say he, too, had been treated horribly by the administration for writing something they didnât like.
âThere is a kind of threatening tone that, from time to time â not all the time â comes out of these guys,â Alter said this week. During the 2008 campaign swing through Berlin, Alter said that future White House press secretary Robert Gibbs disinvited him from a dinner between Obama and the press corps over it.
âI was told âDonât come,â in a fairly abusive e-mail,â he said. â[It] made what Gene Sperling wrote [to Woodward] look like patty-cake.â
-------------------
âI had a young reporter asking tough, important questions of an Obama Cabinet secretary,â says one DC veteran. âShe was doing her job, and they were trying to bully her. In an e-mail, they called her the vilest names â bitch, c--t, a--hole.â He complained and was told the matter would be investigated: âThey were hemming and hawing, saying, âWeâll look into it.â Nothing happened.â
------------------------
âTodayâs a perfect example,â he says. âJack Lew is sworn inâ â as US Treasury secretary, on Thursday â âand they didnât even allow a photographer in there. A reporter asked [press secretary] Jay Carney why, and his answer was, âItâs a family ceremony.â No! This is a high-ranking government official whose salary is paid for by taxpayers. No.â
-------------------------
âThey donât need us as much. And to the extent that theyâre able to do that, theyâre undercutting the First Amendment, which guarantees a free press through many voices. If they put out their own material, itâs state-run media.â
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/beat_the_press_96lFrUNync5zuBZTiZ6aUL/0