CNN's afraid of being blackballed by the White House if they report AWOL

[Lex]

.
story without trying to squash the story or discredit it.

That rang loud and clear tonight.

Lou Dobbs
Chris Matthews
Aaron Brown
White House Correspondent John King

All reported the Swiftboat Liars with intensity.

All clearly scared off the Bush AWOL story by Rove--no access to the White House, no big name Repukes on their shows for comments, etc.

Aaron Brown finally just looked into the camera and said, "Look the story up yourselves" to the viewers.

That to me said he wants the information out there BUT his hands have been tied somehow--and I think it's thru manipulation and threats from the White House.

[xray s]

1. probably threatened to pull all their campaign ad money too

CNN probably makes some nice money on repuke campaign ads.

[WMliberal]

8. nah, RNC needs the audience

they're as much a slave to cable news as cable news is too them. there are other, more subtle ways. prime example: check out the white house press corps seating arrangement. fox is up front now.

[Cronus Protagonist]

12. Ding Ding Ding

They'll be upset with each other a little, but they will still be in bed together. What if Bush held an unscripted news conference and no one went?

You might be a Republican if...
http://cronus.com/quiz

Commentary by a Republican...
http://cronus.com/republican

The REAL Republican Platform...
http://cronus.com/platform

Bush's Illustrated Resume
http://cronus.com/bushresume

Isn't That Strange?
http://cronus.com/oil

:)

[WMliberal]

17. yup. you can still be in bed with somebody...

and still complain that they give bad head.

[NRaleighLiberal]

2. That's exactly what I saw....he KNOWS the truth, but must sling the shit

[KittyWampus]

3. Matthews Is On MSNBC... But That's Just Knit Picking

your point is well taken.

[Lex]

13. Oops, you're right, but I saw snippets of all those shows tonight

and they all seemed to have some sort of marching order, maybe a loose marching order, but one nonetheless.

After seeing them all, it kind of lept out at me. Maybe I'm being too tinfoil hat about it.

[mhr]

4. Should We Be Surprised, Can We Really Do Anything About It

eom

[WMliberal]

5. i wouldn't go that far, they're already blackballed

they just don't want to be the first. they're not avant guarde anymore (then again, were they ever?). they've been hosed before. they let people with less to risk bring it up, just in case it backfires against the people who break the story (COUGH COUGH NY POST)

[Shopaholic]

6. Good call Lex---

makes sense to me. Either that or the WH has pics of all the above engaged in unnatural acts with goats. That could certainly explain *'s fascination with the Goat Story in that Florida Classroom though. . .

What is it about these media guys that they are so willing to roll over and play dead whenever the WH tells them to? Why are they so scared of ShrubCo?

[Cha]

7. WTF does cnn think is going to happen..

When Kerry wins? Cause I'm counting on it!!

[Kimber Scott]

9. Woodruff did an extensive interview this afternoon.

It was shocking.

[John_H]

11. in which she, like John King 6 hrs later, assumed the role of zealous

defense council and PR operative rolled into one.

[AmerDem]

15. extensive and BIASED!

That skinny bitch did everything she could to spin things in a good light for shrub!

[newsguyatl]

10. yep

just yep.

[Lex]

18. When CNN and MSNBC and Faux are in the battle for 'highest ratings'

then it seems that CNN and MSNBC could be easily frightened by the threat of ostracism by the White House.

I think even a few ex-newspeople have confirmed that the Bush White House plays favorites based on HOW the reporters are reporting the stories about Bush.

Phone calls were DEFINITELY made about this Bush-AWOL story.

And with the next 8 weeks being ALL about politics, the threat of lessened access to the WH clearly worked, eh?

[Ducks In A Row]

14. The Saudis threatened to pull their money out

that's a bigger threat for them.

[LTR]

16. I honestly believe that

Not that the Bush campaign will pull their ads. That's insane on their part.

But I'm sure they've strongarmed them in the past for access priveleges. To get access, they've got to play fair.

And f'in CNN and the rest fell for it!

I hope they piss off Bush enough that he pulls ads. CNN would have no choice but to go anti-Bush.

[DeepModem Mom]

19. kick