Last night, I watched Paula Zahn interview Susan Milligan, a reporter with the Boston Globe who also chairs the committee on credentials for House and Senate correspondents about the NY Times smear.
Paula was giddy because Congressman JD Hayworth wants to have the press credentials yanked from the Times.
Milligan gave the answer that every reporter needs to hear:
But the important thing here is the principle, is that we don't let Congress tell the press what they can and cannot publish. You know, I -- I lived in Eastern Europe for five years during the 1990s and reported there. And I know what happens in countries where the government tries to suppress or intimidate or censor the press, because that's what the communists did to my friends.Yes, that's what communists did -- not what nations with freedom of the press do.
Paula Zahn seemed completely oblivious to the fact that she was doing an interview about the government of the United States bullying and censoring the press. She seemed oblivious to the fact that she is also a member of the media. Unfortunately, Zahn is acting like most of the press.
I also saw Norah O'Donnell on MSNBC actually say that this action by the Bush administration wasn't necessarily political. She really should know better.
Note to reporters: If the Bush administration can threaten the NY Times with espionage, they can do the same thing to you. You all reported on the Times story. Does that make you all accomplices to treason?
STOP treating this attack on the NY Times like it's some normal story where both sides deserve a fair hearing. It's not.
Has the media in America been so emasculated by the Bush administration that they are not willing to defend the First Amendment?
