Reporter Sharyl Attkisson Believes She's on an Obama 'Enemies List'
Former CBS investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson, who just released her book Stonewalled: My Fight for Truth Against the Forces of Obstruction, Intimidation, and Harassment in Obama's Washington, has been spilling the beans on unsavory anti-media practices by the Obama administration. In an interview yesterday Attkisson stated her belief that the White House has put her "on a list" of journalists that it targets.
From The Hollywood Reporter:
And why do you think they would target you as opposed to more partisan voices, like Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck?
The question carries the assumption that they haven't targeted others. I kind of assume I'm on a list. I don't think I'm the only one, along with James Rosen and the Associated Press, that garnered special attention. There's probably a list of people.
So an enemies list, like in the Nixon administration?
I've been told there is such a list, yes.
And who do you suspect is on that list?
Well, there's an internal email that indicated reporters who were working with leakers in government agencies or perceived as enemies of the White House are being targeted. So I think that's probably accurate — anybody that they perceive as harmful to their agenda or working with leakers and whistle-blowers, which I did a lot of.
Do you have sources who told you the names on that list? Is Rush Limbaugh on that list, for example?
Another reporter told me — I can't remember who — that they thought he was on some sort of target list, but I don't know that to be the case. I have someone who told me the existence of a list but not the names on it.
The Most Transparent Administration in History has repeatedly shown that it doesn't live up to that self-declared title. Reporters get shut out of meetings without reason, at least one guy has the job title "Freedom of Information Request Act Denial Officer," the Columbia Journalism Review reports that "the Obama administration has prosecuted more people as whistleblowers under the 1917 Espionage Act than all former presidents combined," and in recent significant news, it was revealed that the administration regularly demands changes to reports by the White House press pool.
Nevertheless, each of Attkisson's individual claims must be greeted with skepticism. One of her most scandalous accusations is that the White House bugged her computer. On Friday she released a video that she suggests shows a hacker deleting text from a document on her computer in real time. Computer security firm Interhack Corp. questions Attkisson's account and says it looks nothing like a real hacking but more like a stuck backspace key.
Watch Reason TV's interview with her on Benghazi, Fast and Furious, and the decline of investigative journalism in America.