What journalists with integrity must go through

At The Hill, Sharyl Attkisson gives a thorough account of what a journalist with integrity must go through in today’s media climate.

…An entire industry has been built around companies and operatives that work to get stories placed, discredited or wiped. They obfuscate, confuse and attack. Their targets include ideas they oppose, whistleblowers and advocates who are exposing the truth, journalists uncovering the facts, and news outlets publishing the stories.

…In my two decades as a reporter for CBS News, my stories were often on the receiving end of these efforts. The pharmaceutical industry is probably the most aggressive and persuasive, considering how much media advertising it buys, how much influence it wields within government and how much money it has at its disposal. I’ve written about one of my best CBS executive producers who recounted getting harassed by the network sales department; at issue were my investigations exposing risks of medicine produced by some big pharmaceutical advertisers. More pressure came after off-the-grid conversations and meetings that pharmaceutical lawyers arranged with certain news producers and executives; I wasn’t invited.

…In the last ten years, I’ve talked to many reporters who have complained to me that they believe they’ve had stories improperly changed or killed at CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post and in local news.

At a conference for investigative reporters, a small group of us circled up and compared notes. We all agreed it’s getting worse.

…But it seems few want to address the elephant in the room.

In the end, the biggest problem just might be self-censorship. Why waste time on stories that will never air, or stories that will only make your professional life difficult? We come to understand what types of stories “they” want and which “they’ll” kill — “they” referring to that nebulous, changeable group of deciders in the news division or on a specific program.

…A colleague once told me “they don’t pay” him enough to do stories that take on certain powerful interests. Another says he avoids the hassle by sticking mostly to features about animals and weather. “Everybody’s happy” after those stories, he says. “Nobody complains.”

In this way, the propagandists have accomplished their job without lifting a finger. We’ve done it for them.

All of this explains why, when I read or watch the news, I often wonder what parts might have been forced into the story or what material might have been removed.

Read more here.