Why Bob Woodward’s Fight With The White House Matters to You. By Ron Fournier. National Journal, February 28, 2013.
Fournier:
I
changed the rules of our relationship, first, because it was a waste of my time
(and the official’s government-funded salary) to engage in abusive conversations.
Second, I didn’t want to condone behavior that might intimidate
less-experienced reporters, a reaction I personally witnessed in journalists
covering the Obama administration.
That
gets to why this matters beyond the incestuous Washington culture. One of this
country’s most important traditions is “a free press that isn’t afraid to ask
questions, to examine and to criticize,” Obama said at the 2012 White House Correspondents Association’s annual dinner.
Because
of tech-fueled changes in the market, there are fewer reporters doing more work
with less experience than when I came to Washington with Clinton in 1993. Also,
the standard relationship between reporters and their sources is more
combative, a reflection of polarization in Washington and within the media
industry.
Personally,
I had a great relationship with Clinton’s communications team, less so with
President Bush's press shop, and now – for the first time in my career – I told
a public servant to essentially buzz off.
This
can’t be what Obama wants. He must not know how thin-skinned and close-minded
his staff can be to criticism. “I have the greatest respect and admiration for
what you do,” Obama told reporters a year ago. “I know sometimes you like to
give me a hard time, and I certainly like to return the favor, but I never
forget that our country depends on you.”
Fournier’s cri de coeur reminds me of the old Russian peasant proverb: “if
only the tsar knew!” If only the tsar knew of the crimes his evil ministers were committing in his
name, he would punish them, set things right, and bring justice to the people. Of course the tsar knew all about how his government oppressed and exploited the peasants; the Russian imperial system was based on extraction of wealth from its beasts of burden. And so Obama also knows, and approves, of how his staff exploits and abuses journalists.
