Yellin: Pressured by Execs to Do Positive Stories on Bush

Jessica Yellin on AC 360 admits to being pressured by corporate executives to do positive stories on George Bush to get his approval ratings up. Rough transcript:

Cooper: Jessica, McClellan took the press to task for upholding their reputation. He writes "the national press corps was probably too deferential to the White House and to the Administration in regard to the most important decision facing the nation during my years in Washington. The choice of whether to go to war in Iraq...the 'liberal' media didn't live up to its reputation. If it had, the country would have been better served." Dan Bartlett former Bush advisor called the allegation total crap. What's your take? Did the press corps drop the ball?

Yellin: I think the press corps dropped the ball in the beginning when the lead up to war began, uh the press corps was under enormous pressure from corporate executives frankly to make sure that this was a war that was presented in a way that was consistent with the patriotic fever in the nation and the President's high approval ratings and my own experience at the White House was that the higher the President's approval ratings the more pressure I had from news executives, and I was not at this network at the time, but the more pressure I had from these executives to put on positive stories about the President. I think over time....

Cooper: You had pressure from news executives to put on positive stories about the President?

Yellin: Not in that exact...they wouldn't say it in that way but they would edit my pieces. They would push me in different directions. They would turn down stories that were more critical and try to put on pieces that were more positive. Yes. That was my experience.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Anderson
• Cooper
• AC
• 360
• Jessica
• Yellin
• Pressure
• Network
• Executives
• Positive
• Stories
• George
• Bush
• Scott
• McClellan

[orleansorleans]

yep. where was that "liberal media" (that all the conservatives keep bitching about) when we needed it most?

[mojorox]

Color me not surprised.

[ebonics4everyone]

Jessica Yellin gives me an erection.

[MaxPowWow]

dude youre baller. youtube tough guy. kill yourself.

[Waterboarder25]

at least she i not a total pu55y like you. go kill yourself you republican fa>>gg

[sineaddeburca]

The press has blood on its hands and now they're trying to make light of the fact that they were compliant with the goals of the Bush administration. This is a perfect example of it being a MYTH that we have a "liberal press". We have a Corporate Press. And it was in lock step with this administration.

[MaxPowWow]

i wonder how ignorant she was to the fact that in trying to shed light on injustice, she only implicated herself and endangered her life...?

[nadoop]

ummm, well that's when they get you, in grade school. teh corproate press has always been what it is, a propaganda machine, my dear. but in the federal government controlled education system, they tell you what they need to tell you so you can grow up to be a good little slave boy/girl. wake up, people!!!

[eligarf]

"Every person must be a soldier."

~Thomas Jefferson

[ez2tv3]

Sadly, the answer is that the corporatist conservative Republican Party boss at GOP-CNN, Republican Johnathan Klein, is just as more of a conservative Republican than Campbell Brown is.

[nastylefthook1]

when i was in grade school i was taught the free press was the watchdog of america protecting our freedoms,,,what happened,,,you reporters have given us up,,your own families women and children,,,,,and i thought foreigners couldnt own our media,,murdoch becomes a citizen overnight and buys up half of our media,,who is protecting america,,where are the profiles in courage