NO OFFENSE TO GLENN GREENWALD

(ht Mediaite)

But I consider David Cay Johnston's statements more damning than Greenwald's cogent attacks because Johnston seems less narrow to me and thus his attacks have a broader reach.

MSNBC Guest Skewers White House: They Have This Attitude They Don’t Have To Answer Questions From Journalists
by Evan McMurry | 10:55 am, May 25th, 2013
MEDIAITE

Following a discussion on the President’s drone speech, in which the panel agreed that while drones are here to stay, the true problem is the lack of visibility and accountability into their use, Johnston expanded the point to a larger condemnation of the White House’s lack of transparency.

“They have this attitude that they don’t have to answer questions from journalists if they don’t like the questions,” Johnston said. “I’m sorry, the journalist controls the privilege entirely.”

“Nine days after the President was elected,” he said, “I wrote a piece about how I called the White House Press Office, I’ve been calling them back to the Dixon days, and people wouldn’t say who they were who answered the phone at the White House Press Office, and how that suggested something troubling that we’ve seen since then.”

“The Obama administration is much less open than to journalists than Bush was,” Johnston said. “The Reagan admin was much more open. I had vigorous, tough conversations on the phone and in person with people from the Reagan administration. They may not like your questions, but they respected that it was their job to answer them. The Obama people are like, ‘What are you asking that for? What do you want to know that for?’ And if they don’t like the questions, they just don’t get back to you in many cases.”