Peoria Pundit

The Bush administration spied on the press and they lied to the press. Hell, there are prosecutors who even JAILED the press. But I don’t recall them getting physical with the press.

Via Michael Calderone’s blog on Politico:

Following Leon Panetta’s confirmation hearing Thursday, several reporters approached the CIA director-designate in the hallway outside room G-50 in the Dirksen Building.

There, CongressDaily reporter Chris Strohm — upon asking a question — was physically restrained by a man who accompanied Panetta at hearings both days.

Strohm, when reached by phone Friday, said he was unsure of the man’s role.

“I felt this hand grab my right arm and push me aside,” Strohm said.

By his account, Strohm told the man, “Please don’t touch me” more than once. Eventually, the man let him go.

A veteran reporter who has covered the CIA before says this is aberant behavior. The CIA, he says, is usually much more press friendly. Yeah, seriously. That’s what he said.

Outside of sending black vans out in the middle of the night to round up pesky reporters, I didn’t think it as possible for an administration to be any less friendly to the rights of the press and the right to report than the Bush administration. Manhandling reporters trying to do basic beat reporting is no way to start an administration.

This entry was posted on February 7, 2009 at 9:48 pm and is filed under On the Media with tags Bush, obama, Panetta, press. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed Both comments and pings are currently closed.