Emmy-winning journalist Sharyl Attkisson says the White House could have influenced several TV networks to keep her off their morning shows.
Attkisson — promoting her book,
"Stonewalled: My Fight for Truth Against the Forces of Obstruction, Intimidation, and Harassment in Obama's Washington," published by Harper — said that while she's invited to appear on CNN and Fox, other networks have ignored her.
"This does not fall in line with sort of fluff celebrity stories that they like to do, so they may argue it's nothing more than that. But I would say of course there are probably sensitivities about me and the things I've said in this book," Attkisson said Tuesday on "The Steve Malzberg Show" on
Newsmax TV.
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Attkisson, who has been critical of the Obama administration, said evidence suggests there is "an identified list of reporters who may be troublesome . . . to the administration, who they may have targeted," including herself.
That targeting could include "letters and emails they've written about me, the calls they make to CBS News or something else," Attkisson added.
Asked if the White House could have had influence in keeping her off other networks, Attkisson replied:
"That's something I hadn't really thought about, but yeah, the decision-making process is fraught with all kinds of interferences and connections, some of which are hard to predict."
In a separate interview with Ed Berliner on Newsmax's "MidPoint," Attkisson said the Obama administration's journalistic targets appear to be those who work with leakers inside the government.
"I don't know if that means it's a piece of paper with names on it or some other type of list, but they probably identified the journalists who are problem-some," said Attkisson.
"There's also an email that was leaked in the WikiLeaks pages that discussed a White House tasker that had been assigned -- according to this email from a government contractor -- to deal with inside-the-Beltway journalists who were getting leaks from Washington insiders," said Attkisson.
"That is, again, more evidence that there is somebody assigned, or there is an effort to identify what the administration may see as problem-some journalists," she said.
Attkisson, who reported aggressively on episodes such as a botched federal gun-running investigation dubbed "Fast and Furious," resigned from CBS News in March after 21 years and criticized the network as discouraging her and effectively running interference for the White House.
She did not say she herself is on any journalistic enemies list. But she guessed that other reporters might be, among them James Rosen of Fox News and James Risen of the New York Times. Both have come under intense Justice Department scrutiny for their reporting on national security issues.
She reiterated that while at
CBS, her home computer and work-issue laptop had been tampered with, and that forensic experts hired to look at the equipment found evidence of remote snooping.
By whom, exactly, she wouldn't say. But she said that "two of the three forensic exams that were able to dig the deepest revealed that there appeared to be connections to proprietary software used exclusively by government agencies."
One of the experts identified it as "software used by the DIA, the FBI, the CIA or the NSA," said Attkisson.
She said she has no evidence that she remains under any kind of active scrutiny.
Attkisson said that CBS acknowledged the tampering with her equipment in a press release, but beyond that, "they didn't really follow up."
She said the working climate at CBS during the Obama administration was one of self-censorship and deference to White House wishes.
"As I describe in the book, there are subtle ways in which we self-censor, based on the expectations that we have or what we think that the desired parties want us to do," she said.
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She also said that it wasn't just CBS brass that bowed to White House pressure. She said she learned that staffers at C-SPAN, the public affairs channel covering the federal government, were also threatened with diminished access if they didn't become more responsive to the administration.
"I don't think it's a secret that these tactics are used," said Attkisson. "I've had three different network officials tell me just since I left CBS -- and I was already familiar with this -- how interviews are held back or at least threatened to be held back by administration officials if broadcasters don't cooperate a certain way, or if they color outside of the lines and perhaps attack stories that the administration doesn't want them to attack."
Asked whether she thought the Obama administration has a propensity for lying, Attkisson said, "I would say they have given a great deal of factually incorrect and disproven information in many different circumstances, and that's just an established
fact."
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