The San Francisco Chronicle is apparently in trouble with the White House for posting video of a protest against the White House’s treatment of suspected WikiLeaks source Bradley Manning. The Chronicle‘s Carolyn Lochhead reports:
The White House threatened Thursday to exclude the San Francisco Chronicle from pooled coverage of its events in the Bay Area after the paper posted a video of a protest at a San Francisco fundraiser for President Obama last week, Chronicle editor Ward Bushee said. White House guidelines governing press coverage of such events are too restrictive, Bushee said, and the newspaper was within its rights to film the protest and post the video.
Chronicle reporter Carla Marinucci was the designated “pool” reporter at an Obama fundraiser–meaning that her write-up would be shared with other reporters who were not allowed into the event.
But something truly newsworthy happened–andshe reported it:
At the St. Regis event, a group of protesters who paid collectively $76,000 to attend the fundraiser interrupted Obama with a song complaining about the administration’s treatment of PFC Bradley Manning, the soldier who allegedly leaked U.S. classified documents to the WikiLeaks website.
As part of a “print-only pool,” Marinucci was limited by White House guidelines to provide a print-only report, but Marinucci also took a video of the protest, which she posted in her written story on the online edition of the Chronicle at SFGate.com and on its politics blog after she sent her written pool report.
The Chronicle’s story closes with this ironic point about the White House’s view of technology and information-sharing:
At Facebook the day before the San Francisco fundraiser, Obama said, “The main reason we wanted to do this is, first of all, because more and more people, especially young people, are getting their information through different media. And obviously, what all of you have built together is helping to revolutionize how people get information, how they process information, how they’re connecting with each other.”
Apparently Marinucci posting a video was a little too much revolutionizing.
You’ll have to forgive me if I don’t shed a tear for the victim of this vindictive act.
When I lived in the Bay Area, I subscribed to the paper, until they stopped offering it at a price I could afford.
Like all corpress manifestations, you tend to read it more for what it tells you about the duplicitous state of the mainstream media than for any actual news value.
Hence, my less than affectionate nickname for it:
The San Francisco ChronicLiar
Here in Wisconsin, it’s deja vu all over again, with the Madison-based Wisconsin State Journal an even more graphic example of “all the news that’s printed to fit”. It’s little more than a thinly disguised PR handout for the governor’s vicious policy initiatives.
So I thought “The Walker State Journal” would be a more accurate masthead.
It’ll be interesting to see how, or if, it will cover the May Day rally Sunday, at which immigrant and labor advocates will be displaying the solidarity that’s anathema to a corporate outlet.
I agree with you Doug.
Just another sign of our Corporatized Media.
I believe this is an indication the president is more worried about his chances in the coming election than most media, and even loony libertarian economists will admit. He has already alienated his base by virtually removing them from the table of discussion. He has also gone back on nearly every promise he made to them to get elected the first time around. Don’t get me wrong, I still feel he is the lesser of two evils when it comes to any republican candidate. That said and just like Bush Jr, he is still helping corporate lobbyists write our laws, attacking the poor, the middle class and the elderly. The only real difference between him and the GOP is that the final destruction of the New Deal with him is a more piecemeal process, where with the republicans it will be thrown directly under the bus the moment they regain power.
I’m on the lookout for events in the news that are going to tend to give a righteous left wing status to some very suspect “political products” out there … such as the “San Francisco Chronicle” and the current President Obama.
Most of the news now is manufactured, and the way it is done is to build up symbols that appeal to people’s branding and use them associate one side or other with good or bad and then herd people.
Obama was thus herded into office in the last election when many Republicans went over to support him … while he was at once covering himself in left wing symbols like Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers .. and denying it simultaneously.
It is going to be awfully hard to fight the liberal side of this war when there is really no straight liberal entity that people can trust or rally behind. Liberals have to start learning how to be distrbuted and link up together to be effective … and this culture does not teach that well.
I’m with you, Brux. We do a pretty good job watching parking meters, but still have to learn not to follow leaders.
It’s time news media upheld their responsibilities to the public and refused to participate in news pools. Instead report the real uncensored news and return to an era of real investigative reporting.
The nation deserves more than news approved by White House, political parties, foreign nations and corporations.
If you take a stance and report the truth the people will support and protect you, but first you have to do your job as a patriot and report the truth.
Some of it is going to hurt as you dispel the lies that have cost the lives of the innocent not just American but peoples of other nation who have suffered & died for opposing USA policy.
So San Francisco Chronicle be a leader and start the march toward freedom by ignoring censorship of stories that don’t affect the defense of the nation. Unfortunately the term “national security” have been over used applied to everything therefore it is no longer a valid reason for censorship.
Time you set an example and did your job rather than spread lies & misrepresent the facts.
The real question is why the White House thinks it has the right to impose its own guidelines on what journalists can and can’t cover. And even bigger question is why and self-respecting news orgianization would give a shit.
Report a protest, be punished, Sounds like Nixon. Plus ca change…
How ironic that they should be so willing to punish a newspaper based in a Democratic stronghold.
If the SF Chronicle were really clever they’d take the White House at its word, report on what should be reported on, and use any backlash from authorities as a badge of courage and honesty.
THAT is an identity that veracity starved news consumers will embrace.
One other thing… has anyone noticed this White House holding Fox News responsible for its bullshit?
While I also have a low opinion of the Chronicle (in my days in the Bay Area, it was more of a daily magazine than a paper that printed news), that doesn’t mean I will side with the Adminstration when it tries to intimidate the press. In fact, the Chronicle behaved like a real newspaper in this incident; that is, it reported the news. I only wish it would do that more often.
Why is the White House so sensitive to criticism from the left? Obama seems to think that he can take the support of the Left for granted, and therefore he can move to the right at will. A demonstration like this, even the protesters proclaimed their loyalty to Obama at the end, is not supposed to happen. It is a non-event; it follows that it cannot be reported on. A fine example of totalitarian logic.
You gotta be kidding. Why would the FOLKS AT THE WHITE HOUSE IN OBAMA’S ADMINISTRATION want to totally IGNORE their President’s efforts toward TRANSPARENCY. This does not make sense to me. Has the item been double-checked?
The lack of news coverage insults every American! Do we need alternate news (twitter, facebook)only? The suggestion of punishment for showing a public event is despicable and the public will not elect such individuals! Obama I thought was a tad smarter than those old Birches.
Well, wouldn’t you know it? Just when I’m (rightfully) feeling a little outraged over the President’s predicament with the outrageous Birther/Corpress entanglement, along comes the President’s courtiers demanding obedience from the timid, usually sycophantic “liberal” press. Next thing you know the President will start another illegal war or declare that he can hold presumably innocent people forever on a whim. It’s tough, and gettin’ tougher, to sort through all this stuff, but I’m up to the task.
This would be a much more interesting story if the Chronicle had taped or reposted the communiqué from the administration that indicated they were in trouble. If indeed “print only” on the fundraiser was asked for, the protest could have been written up also with the video posted separately and linked to. What’s the big whoop?
Anyone notice the amount those people spent to be able to protest, and the lackluster response from pretty much everybody concerned?I would of thought this would of generated more interest.Sorry girls money not well spent- though I applaud you putting your money where your mouths are.Also have heard almost nothing on Kadhafi and the death of his son and grandchildren.
It is funny to me this surprise on the left over the thug politics Obama sometimes employs.Guys…..It is where he comes from.It is how he got here.The presidency has placed him into a spotlight that forces him to employ more soft glove persuasion over his prefered Chicago thug politics.But he will employ it when the feeling moves him.