White House admits: We 'control' news media

[Bruenor]

Here's another article that I just came across.

White House admits: We 'control' news media

[FONT=Palatino, Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif][SIZE=+2]White House admits: We 'control' news media[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Palatino, Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif][SIZE=+1]Communications chief offers shocking confession to foreign government
[/SIZE][/FONT]
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.

"Very rarely did we communicate
through the press anything that we didn't absolutely control," said Dunn.

"One of the reasons we did so many of the David Plouffe videos was not just for our supporters, but also because it was a way for us to get our message out without having to actually talk to reporters," said Dunn, referring to Plouffe, who was Obama's chief campaign manager.

"We just put that out there and made them write what Plouffe had said as opposed to Plouffe doing an interview with a reporter. So it was very much we controlled it as opposed to the press controlled it," Dunn said.

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Continued Dunn: "Whether it was a David Plouffe video or an Obama speech, a huge part of our press strategy was focused on making the media cover what Obama was actually saying as opposed to why the campaign was saying it, what the tactic was. … Making the press cover what we were saying."

 

[rich8483]

not even trying to hide it

 

[SavageEagle]

Now all those people saying we were just wearing our tinfoil hats can get to making their own. Or they'll just come into this thread and say it's all because the media said it...

 

[henktermaat]

And these same people are freaking out that Fox News is biased. Makes me think the real reason is because FN isn't under their control

 

[Dryden]

This is why they're going after Glen Beck, Rush, and the entire internet. They want/need full control. Any opposition will be dealt with swiftly.

China and North Korea are only too proud to provide insight on how it's done.

 

[5.56'aholic]

at least they finally admitted to it. We have been calling them out for over a year now over this b.s.

 

[bm9mm]

I guess I can act surprised but what would really surprise me is to hear that in and american media outlet.

 

[Greatestsin]

I guess I can act surprised but what would really surprise me is to hear that in and american media outlet.

Me too i never thought i'd see it that way, but now we know that all those times we complained that obama was not getting asked the questions he should have been, like the night he did his healthcare proposal, we were absolutely right.

 

[level.eleven]

Is an administration trying to control the message really a new concept? Hasn't pretty much every modern day (since the rise of mass media on demand) tried doing this? To me, this is just the progression off precedent set by past parties and a side effect of the press losing focus of thier role with regards to government. Replace Anita Dunn, with say, someone like Karl Rove and this story could have been printed anytime over the past 8 years. Media is big business and not immune to the creep of corporatism.

This administration is simply taking it a little farther, as has every administration since Nixon. Thats the way fedgov works. Your predecessors lay groundwork that you cannot simply undo, and more times than not expand on.

That said, there are some recent developments that certainly raise a red flag. The cozy relationships with ABC that have allowed, for all pratical purposes, policy info-mercials. There was the HufPo incident as well. Heck, even HELLEN THOMAS has chastized this administration about its relationship with the press.

“I’m not saying there has never been managed news before, but this is carried to fare-thee-well--for the town halls, for the press conferences,” she said. “It’s blatant. They don’t give a damn if you know it or not. They ought to be hanging their heads in shame.” - Helen Thomas calling it like she sees it.

The press has allowed the lines of division to become very blurry, and you are seeing a rather stark loss of followers. Does anyone still watch the evening news? I couldn't even tell you all 3 of the hosts now days. Newspapers? Dead. The major news rags, Newsweek, Time, etc.? Dieing. People are seeking out new sources for thier news. The only problem I see is that people are turning to news sources that fit thier own world view, and are getting a lot of opinion injected into thier news and taking it as "fair and balanced" because they agree with the reporters conclusions. World Net Daily would be a good example.