Or, they told me if I voted for McCain, we would soon see the government quash new media reporting to control the message…and they were right!
White House officials have banished one of the best political reporters in the country from the approved pool of journalists covering presidential visits to the Bay Area for using now-standard multimedia tools to gather the news.
The Chronicle’s Carla Marinucci – who, like many contemporary reporters, has a phone with video capabilities on her at all times – pulled out a small video camera last week and shot some protesters interrupting an Obama fundraiser at the St. Regis Hotel. …
Other sources confirmed that Carla was vanquished, including Chronicle editor Ward Bushee, who said he was “informed that Carla was removed as a pool reporter.” Which shouldn’t be a secret in any case because it’s a fact that affects the newsgathering of our largest regional paper (and sfgate)and how local citizens get their information.
What’s worse: more than a few journalists familiar with this story are aware of some implied threats from the White House of additional and wider punishment if Carla’s spanking became public. Really? That’s a heavy hand usually reserved for places other than the land of the free.
This all happened just the day after President Obama visited facebook and held an online townhall in which he touted the wonders of social media. Is the legacy media catching on that perhaps Obama is less than his words say he is? Maybe.
The President’s practice not just with transparency but in other dealings with the press has not been tracking his words, despite the cool glamour and easy conversation that makes him seem so much more open than the last guy.
Or maybe not. Two years in and it’s still all about the last president the press hated, not the current president whose statements just keep expiring.
Just spit-ballin’ here, boss, but if the MBM (as Ace calls them) were normal people instead of reporters, and they really were starting to sour on The One, then the entire pool of reporters covering the next event would show up with camera phones, just to force the issue.
Ban them all? Or walk it back?
Doubtful that would happen, of course, since it would take a degree of cojones that today’ “journalists” don’t have.
Still, one can dream.
Left wing hacks like Carla who carry water for the likes of Barry get exactly the treatment they deserve. Exactly
She was “vanquished”? Huh? As in conquered? Again… huh?
Anyway, Carla, thanks for voting Democratic. This is what it looks like. You’ll take it and like it, because they own you. What are you stupid Media going to do about it, huh?
Currently, the reporters of Pravda have more balls than the sad excuse for journalists we have these days.
Why do I think the camera is a pretense and the real reason she’s banished is because she shot video that was embarrassing to the ObaMessiah? It seems in keeping with his thin, thin skin
This is only going to work until one of the media outlets starts to sell an just such an anonymised scoop to another paper that isn’t normally on the team and then Obama can either ban the lot of them or live with the fact that when reporters no longer put the name to their stories and don’t need to fear reprisal from someone who threatens them on the job, their reports will be somewhat more frank and pointed.
And newspapers might be partisan, but they also have an income stream to protect, and so, my guess is there will be some routing around to prevent being “obamad” another time.
The media better stick together, otherwise they will surely get it stuck in them individually.
If the media stuck together, Obama would face an empty room at his next press event. Better yet, the reporters would show up, turn their backs on him, and walk out.
I’m not waiting for it.
Carla got off lucky. Obama feels the time isn’t right to imitate his mentor and teacher, Chavez, but that time will come.
And the Chron/SfGate was the most faithful spear carrier for Barry and company all through the campaign and the first two years of Carter revisited. Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of flunkies/hacks.
Oh she got bounced because of the union rules. She’s a *print* pool reporter. She’s not allowed to *take video*. That job is owned, OWNED I tell you, by a unionized cameraman. And I am shocked, SHOCKED that you would would agree to people taking food from the mouths of unionized labor by destroying their jobs…….yadda yadda yadda…..
The “approved pool of journalists?” Honestly, don’t you think that’s a bit too condescending? no need to mock them openly, in public. You can get better news from the guys in my barber shop than them.
Unfortunately, you could probably get better governance too.
An interesting display of technophobia on the part of the Obama administration. Before they get entirely used to the existence of such devices I suppose we should give them a chance to assimulate the invention of the horseless carriage. ^_~
The English Nazi in me is compelled to point out that the proper word is banished, not vanquished. She was expelled rather than conquered.
I expect more from PJTV. As Yogi Berra said, you could look it up.
The word ‘vanquished’ is in a quote from an article at SFGate, which can be inferred by examining the link immediately preceding the quote. Nazis were better informed.
Cheers
And yet, W and his press goons allowed that scorpion Helen Thomas to persist…