Justice Dept. tries to dictate content of McClatchy Newspapers report

[Newsjock]

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/pressingissues_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003569607

The current scandal swirling around the firing of eight U.S. attorneys first reached the mainstream media in a major way via a report from McClatchy Newspapers' Washington, D.C., bureau. That scoop had been fed by items that had appeared for weeks on political blogs. How is it that the resource-rich Washington Post and New York Times did not break the "AttorneyGate" story above ground?

One reason was that McClatchy's Marisa Taylor had only worked inside the Beltway for less than a year and had brought with her years of experience covering federal courts in distant parts of the country.

... McClatchy's D.C. bureau chief, John Walcott, recalls a Justice Department official telling Taylor that she simply "had" to use certain information he had given her for a story. According to Walcott, Taylor replied: "I will decide what goes in my story. You won't."

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. Bless that woman.

Not on the beat long enough to succumb from Cocktail Weenie-Induced Brain Rot, I reckon.

[LiberalFighter]

2. I wonder if she kept a record of the info they wanted her to publish