Im happy that there are at least 1 or 2 journalists that go where their investigations take them, regardless of politics. In an extensive review, The New York Posts Kyle Smith notes that Attkisson considers herself politically agnostic and a reporter who follows wherever the story leads. That inevitably led to trouble when the story cast a bad light on the Obama administration. One of the things thats particularly interesting is the way Attkisson sees bias playing out. Its not necessarily ideological (or at least not in a way that is commonly conceived). Smith explains: Reporters on the ground aren’t necessarily ideological, Attkisson says, but the major network news decisions get made by a handful of New York execs who read the same papers and think the same thoughts. Often they dream up stories beforehand and turn the reporters into “casting agents,” told “we need to find someone who will say . . .” that a given policy is good or bad. “We’re asked to create a reality that fits their New York image of what they believe,” she writes. Smith continues: Attkisson mischievously cites what she calls the “Substitution Game”: She likes to imagine how a story about today’s administration would have been handled if it made Republicans look bad. In green energy, for instance: “Imagine a parallel scenario in which President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney personally appeared at groundbreakings for, and used billions of tax dollars to support, multiple giant corporate ventures whose investors were sometimes major campaign bundlers, only to have one (or two, or three) go bankrupt . . . when they knew in advance the companies’ credit ratings were junk.” Attkisson continued her dogged reporting through the launch of ObamaCare: She’s the reporter who brought the public’s attention to the absurdly small number — six — who managed to sign up for it on day one.
Posted on: Sun, 26 Oct 2014 13:28:20 +0000
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