How White House Reporters Can Reclaim Their Beat

www.nationaljournal.com...

from article... Paul Farhi of The Washington Post writes today about a trend at the White House—and throughout journalism—that threatens the quality and credibility of news-gathering: Public-relations "minders" are injecting themselves into our interviews with politicians, CEOs, and other policymakers.

Minder madness joins the surge of "background briefings" and the decline of access to decision-makers as evidence that the White House—and other big instititutions—are manipulating the press. It's that, but it's also something worse: It's evidence that journalists are ceding control when they should be seizing it, accepting canned news rather than breaking it.

Farhi writes, "Almost every officially sanctioned exchange between reporters and the proverbial 'senior administration officials' is conducted in the presence of a press staffer, even when the interview is 'on background,' meaning the source will not be identified by name."

That is refreshing to see that some are trying be real journalists and get to the truth. Government/corporation controlled media has to end. Not sure if this is the right place for this so move if needed....

a reply to: switchqm8
The People's Republic of China issues minders to reporters from other countries to make sure that they don't see or hear anything that they shouldn't.
Obama is awesome..... I mean Dear Leader is awesome!

a reply to: butcherguy

Thats Der Fhurermeister