Anita Dumb finally admits what even Helen Thomas finds painfully obvious: the American media is run out of the White House
White House boasts: We 'control' news media
Communications chief offers shocking confession to foreign government
Posted: October 18, 2009
7:11 pm Eastern
By Aaron Klein
© 2009 WorldNetDaily
TEL AVIV President Obama's presidential campaign focused on "making" the news media cover certain issues while rarely communicating anything to the press unless it was "controlled," White House Communications Director Anita Dunn disclosed to the Dominican government at a videotaped conference."
White House boasts: We 'control' news media
Nixon didnt try to do that, Thomas said. They couldnt control (the media). They didnt try. What the hell do they think we are, puppets? Theyre supposed to stay out of our business. They are our public servants. We pay them. -- Helen Thomas
Better Late Than Never
Good title. I thought you were going for "we control the vertical, we control the horizontal" used in the Twilight Zone. It really fit this adventure.
Here's my take:
I didn't pay any attention to this story until today when I read that the WH sent their posse out on every major Sunday news program to say that "Fox isn't a news org".
Those are worse than fighting words, they are a veiled threat.
The statements themselves aren't very damning, not nearly so damning as Fox's earlier salvo, the video of Dunne glamorizing Mao. That was blistering coming on the heels of the nation's green czar being outed as a self proclaimed commie.
You would think that the WH has the upper hand. First as Chomsky pointed out as one of his main points in "Manufacturing Consent" the government is the largest news source of them all. Between the ability to suspend the Fox WH press passes, and limiting access to the military and official news releases, interviews etc team Obama can also limit fox's access to the party, another major news source.
If the WH decides that Fox isn't a news org then their press privileges can all be terminated. And you can't really hang in the news business if the largest news sources deny you access to, ya know, the news.
Then there is the FCC, the DOJ, and the new executive powers used to single out the BoA CEO and claw back his entire salary and bonuses and intended to be applied to any industry considered systematically essential to the nation. And what is more systematically essential to the nation than the 4th estate?
You would think all the cards were in Rahmuel's greasy hands.
But as Harry Truman said of Randolph Hearst, "Son, you don't get in a pissing match with somebody who buys news ink by the boxcar".
Fox is already winning this war, and every GOP operative under the sun is likely to become a whistle blower in their defense if the WH keeps attacking the 4th estate.
You may not consider them news, you may consider them evil, but a free press is more important than any admin or any party.
There can be no democracy without a free press. Our founding Fathers were adamant about it. In fact they created the postal service explicitly to allow every and anybody who wanted to be in the news business affordable and equal distribution.
That was "every and anybody" including agenda driven news like Fox. And according to what I have read news has almost always been agenda driven in this nation. Almost every news rag that ever dominated a metro market was biased to the core. But opposing pov were also present.
Remember even liberal Molly Ivans said that the Obama admin is more intent on controlling the message than the (kings of secrecy) Bush admin was.
The WH is not thinking with a fair and balanced mind. And they will rue the day they started this if it gets carried away.
You don't mess with the 4th estate.