Journalism: PR in Disguise

This article from the New York Times describes the level of control that interviewees have over journalists' published content.  Though it is troubling that journalists are admittedly forced to be public relations correspondents in disguise, the silver lining is that the New York Times is coming forward with this story to make people aware of the low quality of information that is being published (even in their own publication). Hopefully this article foreshadows a shift in the integrity of mainstream media.

From the article:

"...The push and pull over what is on the record is one of journalism’s perennial battles. But those negotiations typically took place case by case, free from the red pens of press minders. Now... politicians and their advisers are routinely demanding that reporters allow them final editing power over any published quotations.

Quote approval is standard practice for the Obama campaign, used by many top strategists and almost all midlevel aides in Chicago and at the White House — almost anyone other than spokesmen who are paid to be quoted. (And sometimes it applies even to them.) It is also commonplace throughout Washington and on the campaign trail.

...And Romney advisers almost always require that reporters ask them for the green light on anything from a conversation that they would like to include in an article.

From Capitol Hill to the Treasury Department, interviews granted only with quote approval have become the default position. Those officials who dare to speak out of school... shroud even the most innocuous and anodyne quotations in anonymity by insisting they be referred to as a “top Democrat” or a “Republican strategist.”...

“We don’t like the practice,” said Dean Baquet, managing editor for news at The New York Times. “We encourage our reporters to push back. Unfortunately this practice is becoming increasingly common"...

The White House held such a briefing after the Supreme Court’s health care ruling last month with officials... But when reporters asked to quote part of the conversation, even anonymously, they were told no. Even the spokesmen were off limits."

Read the full article here.