RT
Mon, 02 Dec 2013 18:56 CST


A longtime Washington reporter and White House correspondent has accused the current administration of being "the most hostile" to journalists in the history of the United States.

Former CNN correspondent Bob Franken was sitting down over the weekend with reporters at MSNBC when he was asked to weigh in on the current standoff between the White House and some of the biggest names in news when he made headline-grabbing remarks about this administration's treatment of the press.

Allegations have been made lately by the likes of the Associated Press, Reuters and others that the White House has been excluding independent photographers from official functions with increasing regularity as of late, instead relying on a lone administration staffer to shoot images of US President Barack Obama for selected distribution among the press. In a recent letter sent by editors at the AP, Reuters, CNN, ABC, NBC and others, the organizations wrote "officials in this administration are blocking the public from having an independent view of important functions of the Executive Branch of government," and McClatchy newspapers and USA Today both went as far as to vow to boycott official images provided by the White House in protest.

On Saturday, however, perhaps the harshest critique yet of this administration's policy with regards to the press surfaced, courtesy of Franken, a longtime White House reporter who has covered the Washington beat since the 1980s.

"Well, let's use the 'P' word here," Franken told MNBC Live host TJ Holmes. "This is propaganda when it comes from the White House: government covering the government. "

"It's not what you're supposed to do in the United States of America," added Franken, "But we have an administration, every president gets to the point where he dislikes the press. It's that simple. And every administration tries to manipulate the press. But this is the most hostile to the media that has been in United States history."

When asked by Holmes to elaborate further, Franken specifically called out the Obama White House for the recent issues they've had with regards to official photography. According to Franken, the administration's actions equate exactly to "shutting out the press," an argument hinted at in the recent letter signed by the likes of the AP and others. Shortly after, though, Franken called into question other media snafus spawned by this administration in order to qualify the Obama presidency as the most hostile ever to journalists.

"But the reason I say most hostile," continued Franken, "is because of the Justice Department moves that they've made against the press. Obviously they have a contempt for the journalistic process. Those of us who are in journalism, of course, believe that it is vital if you're going to have informed electorate as opposed to one that's been propagandized."

Indeed, the latest episode pitting the White House against the nation's media establishment is not the only one to scar the administration, not even in the last year. In May it was revealed that the Department of Justice was conducting surveillance targeting AP journalists, and soon after it was made public that Fox News reporter James Rosen was being monitored as well.

For 2013, Reporters Without Borders ranked the US as number 32 on the list of countries with the most press freedoms, and in October the Center to Protect Journalists published a 29-page scathing report scolding the Obama administration for its harsh treatment of the press, as well as the whistleblowers who have exposed newsworthy evidence only to be in turn prosecuted for espionage.

Franken, the cousin of Sen. Al Franken (D-Minnesota), was one of the main Washington correspondents at CNN for years before leaving during the second George W. Bush administration.

This is pretty funny. NBC and CNN are still whitewashing everything Obama does.

I guess in their view ...."The evil that you know..."

doesnt anyone else see the irony of the USA Today boycotting official White House photographs??

they don't care, they're still getting paid...

lol, i'm glad they are

It is because we have the most corrupt Presidential administration in US History with A LOT to hide.

Yet almost all blacks worship him and defend him to the last breath.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI0ib11evdU

I think it's a tempest in a teapot. The press is not always historically well behaved and respectful....there's been times I think they've needed to be kncoked down a peg....publishing victims names, private pgotographs and things they have no business with.

I have lost respect for the press when they began making every minute detail of the lives of politicians and celebrities an open book. I applaud the celebrities who have sued them and won. Like the Kate Middleton incidents. I also admire the French for their privacy restrictions & am totally behind the EU in this discussion with google about internet privacy.

There are simply things that are no one's business and as individuals we should get to decide what things in our private lives remain private and what to share with others. I despise nosiness so I'm probably not inclined to be all that "press friendly" myself.

Now, when the press does what it should be doing and uncovers corruption...then I am behind them 100%...like in the NSA/Snowden debacle or Watergate

Where's Joseph Goebbels when you need him?
Oh, I forgot. He's the mayor of Chicago now.

A lot do, but more and more they are realizing he is a fast talker and a con artist and can not support him because of race anymore. I know a lot who voted for him just because he is African American and now regret it.

Reincarnated as either David Axelrod or Jay Carney, I am still trying to figure out which one though.