MICHAEL LEDEEN: Why the CNN Reporter White House Ban Doesn’t Bother Me.

When I worked in the Reagan administration—first at the State Department, later at the White House—I talked to plenty of journalists. I never spoke “off the record” and I still don’t believe in it (if you don’t want to discuss a subject, just shut up. If you do, put your name on it). There were some unpleasant moments, one with William Safire of the New York Times, who once asked me about a diplomatic matter of some sensitivity. He asked a question that suggested he had been misinformed, so I said he needed some background. He wouldn’t listen, and insisted I just answer his question. I said if I did that, he would be misled, so I declined, and thereafter refused to talk to him. I didn’t think he was entitled to set the agenda, nor did I think he had some sort of “right” to use my time as he saw fit. So I locked him out. Note that I wasn’t at all hostile to Safire’s politics. Quite the opposite, in fact.

I feel the same about the exclusion of a CNN reporter from a White House event.

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