Politico media reporter Mackenzie Weinger reports that there is new respect from media conservatives over Washington Post bigfoot Bob Woodward insisting there are facts about just who introduced the sequester -- the White House.
“Apparently Woodward doesn’t view his job as being a total lapdog for Obama,” Sean Hannity said on his radio show Monday.Hannity told his listeners that Woodward is “doing the job, frankly, that few journalists are willing to do, and that’s actually tell the truth and dig down a little deeper.” I told Weinger that Woodward loves being a Player, pushing presidents around:
Tim Graham of the Media Research Center, Brent Bozell’s conservative watchdog group, said the focus on Woodward’s piece comes down to his “mythical status of being the best journalist ever.” While Graham credited Woodward for raising the point about the origin of the sequester in a high-profile way, “I wouldn’t want to run around too much making him my hero,” Graham told POLITICO.
“Democratic presidents sit down with Woodward and think they’re going to get a much better deal than Woodward gave Bush,” he said. “But the fact of the matter is Woodward has been granted this mythical status of being the best journalist ever, so when he decides to take you on you’re in the middle of a major battle.”
The surprise for many in this case, Graham said, was that Woodward was willing to challenge the White House and the president by presenting a “a very plain narrative where the Obama people introduced this idea.”
“We have a whole press corps that doesn’t take Obama on, and I would argue we’re in a period where the press has no respect...“Woodward’s sort of the exception, but I’m uncomfortable with the idea that we turn reporters into budget negotiators or blame assessors.”"
I hope I said "no self-respect." It's not a reporter's job to destroy a president's popularity, or uphold it. It's not a reporter's job to make budget negotiations happen or make legislation pass. It's their job to keep a record of what was done and what was said. Woodward, in this case, has his reporting that this came from Team Obama, and he's sticking with it.
I also said “As usual, we’re kind of having a fight over which facts matter" -- meaning that now, Team Obama and its media minions want to blur the matter of who proposed the sequester, as if no one needs to know.
