Posted on 12/21/2002 6:57:18 PM PST by Lady In Blue
It certainly seems, from a veritable gusher of leaks, that the White House helped sink Trent Lott's boat.
Ari Fleischer insists that's not the case.
"I've talked to the president about this," Fleischer says, referring to all those stories in which unnamed administration officials were trying to prod the Mississippi senator into quitting as majority leader, as he did yesterday.
"There's a real sense of frustration, from the president on down, that the White House is being blamed for something it did not do.[emphasis mine] Because the story line is so juicy and too many in the press wanted it to be true, the usual safeguards of probing and inquiring deeply weren't pursued."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
"My experience is, most of the people who actually work in the White House are not talking about this to reporters," says USA Today correspondent Judy Keen. "They are, however, talking to other people who are close to the White House, and in those conversations they are not making it a secret that they wouldn't mind this stuff making it into print."Is there any doubt that the media manufactures news when there aren't any? Is there any doubt that the media is biased against Republicans? Is there any doubt that Helen Thomas is a b-eye-itch?
The issue surfaced at a White House briefing yesterday morning, when Fleischer complained to the assembled reporters about "assertions that are not backed up."
"Just because they're not backed up doesn't mean they're not true," cracked CBS's Bill Plante.
"Well, that's a heck of a standard for thorough, probing journalism," Fleischer said.
"Taking your word for it is not a standard either," retorted columnist Helen Thomas.
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