CNN's Yellin: Network execs killed critical White House stories
- added May 29, 2008
- 8 responses
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- Rostam
- added this
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- News and Politics (39521)
- Politics (27874)
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- CNN (195)
- Failure of MSM (53)
- McClellan (6)
- Jessica Yellin (1)
On Wednesday night, CNN's Jessica Yellin talked to Anderson Cooper about Scott McClellan's tell-all memoir and agreed with the former press secretary that White House reporters "dropped the ball" during the run-up to war.
But Yellin went much further, revealing that news executives — presumably at ABC News, where she'd worked from July 2003 to August 2007 — actively pushed her not do hard-hitting pieces on the Bush administration. [See update]
"The press corps was under enormous pressure from corporate executives, frankly, to make sure that this was a war presented in a way that was consistent with the patriotic fever in the nation and the president's high approval ratings," Yellin said.
"And my own experience at the White House was that the higher the president's approval ratings, the more pressure I had from news executives — and I was not at this network at the time — but the more pressure I had from news executives to put on positive stories about the president, I think over time...."
But then a shocked Cooper jumped in, asking, "You had pressure from news executives to put on positive stories about the president?"
"Not in that exact.... They wouldn't say it in that way, but they would edit my pieces," Yellin said. "They would push me in different directions. They would turn down stories that were more critical, and try to put on pieces that were more positive. Yes, that was my experience."
Yellin is going to post a blog item shortly on CNN.com that will clarify her remarks.
But Yellin went much further, revealing that news executives — presumably at ABC News, where she'd worked from July 2003 to August 2007 — actively pushed her not do hard-hitting pieces on the Bush administration. [See update]
"The press corps was under enormous pressure from corporate executives, frankly, to make sure that this was a war presented in a way that was consistent with the patriotic fever in the nation and the president's high approval ratings," Yellin said.
"And my own experience at the White House was that the higher the president's approval ratings, the more pressure I had from news executives — and I was not at this network at the time — but the more pressure I had from news executives to put on positive stories about the president, I think over time...."
But then a shocked Cooper jumped in, asking, "You had pressure from news executives to put on positive stories about the president?"
"Not in that exact.... They wouldn't say it in that way, but they would edit my pieces," Yellin said. "They would push me in different directions. They would turn down stories that were more critical, and try to put on pieces that were more positive. Yes, that was my experience."
Yellin is going to post a blog item shortly on CNN.com that will clarify her remarks.
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I'm not surprised that it happened...but I'm glad she's finally opening her trap about it.
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- Julie_Soller
- 4 months ago
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Finally people are speaking up. And keep up with the blogging, everyone, it DOES make a difference.
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- celestialceiling
- 4 months ago
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Further evidence that unfettered capitalism is not good for society. Of course, it's not the first time in US history that profit-motivated news companies have led the country into a war - it's just sad that history keeps repeating itself.
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People need to remember one very important fact. News operations are in the business of making money, not in the business of telling you the facts. News execs will say otherwise, but when making money crosses with journalism, money wins every time.
If you had a country that was recently attacked, a military that just kicked the s*@t out of Iraq, a President with a 60% approval rating and a population full of people saying "nuke Iraq back to the stone age", you would not do stories about how all this is wrong. People would turn you off. MSNBC was and still is, in a fight for it's life against Fox.
Did someone at MSNBC tell her what to write? Doubtful. But was the the atmosphere of the newsroom to "keep it positive"? You're damn right it was. Tell America what it wants to hear.
Journalism, true journalism is dead. The replacement is said to be blogs. In truth, they only replace the editorial pages.
And if you think it is getting better, then why is not George Bush being charged as a war criminal? What happened when Hussein invaded Kuwait for what, to him, was a very good reason? -
Excerpt from Jessica Yellin's update:
So let me clarify what I said and what I experienced.
First, this involved my time on MSNBC where I worked during the lead up to war. I worked as a segment producer, overnight anchor, field reporter, and briefly covered the White House, the Pentagon, and general Washington stories.
Also, let me say: No, senior corporate leadership never asked me to take out a line in a script or re-write an anchor intro. I did not mean to leave the impression that corporate executives were interfering in my daily work; my interaction was with senior producers. What was clear to me is that many people running the broadcasts wanted coverage that was consistent with the patriotic fever in the country at the time. It was clear to me they wanted their coverage to reflect the mood of the country.
http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/05/29/tv-news-under-the... -
I do not believe this is the first administration that this has happened with. This is just the first administration that got punched in the balls and boy is it hurting them. I think it's almost time to cry uncle.
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- 96thdayofrage
- 4 months ago
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