"Republicans have long accused mainstream journalists of being on the payroll of President Obama and the Democratic Party, a common refrain of favoritism especially from those on the losing end of an election....But this year the accusation has a new twist: In some notable cases it has become true, with several prominent journalists now on the payrolls of Mr. Obama and the Democratic Congressional leadership."And? How is that supposed to slant coverage? They may be on the payroll, but they don't still work for their former employers.
What's conspicuously absent from the article is any mention of the individuals who, during the Bush administration, actually were on the government's payroll while purporting to be objective "journalists," including Armstrong Williams, Karen Ryan (of "In Washington, I'm Karen Ryan reporting," fame) and a host of Iraqi news professionals. Of course, in any discussion like this, Jeff Gannon is in a class by himself.
And while the article mentions that the Bush administration hired former Fox News commentators, is there really no difference between working for Republicans and working for Democrats? The Times article features Douglas Frantz, a former managing editor of the Los Angeles Times, who is now working as Senator John Kerry's chief investigator on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Frantz describes the work as similar to that of an investigative reporter but with clout, saying, “Pursuing the truth is apolitical.”
Can you imagine a former journalist with any claim on the profession going to work for President Bush and saying that, much less believing it?
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