From the desk of Howard Kurtz: For Obama, it's no more Mr. Nice Media
Editor's note: Howard Kurtz is the host of CNN's "Reliable Sources."
(CNN) - The press has turned on President Obama with a vengeance.
Suddenly, the White House briefing room is filled with confrontational questions. Suddenly, the news pages are ablaze with scandal, and the commentators - even some of the president's usual defenders - are bemoaning his shortcomings. Suddenly, Obama isn't getting the benefit of the doubt.
According to Obama's longtime detractors, the denizens of the fourth estate are finally climbing out of a tank in which they have been immersed since roughly 2007. But the reality is a bit more nuanced than that.
There are a number of unsavory allegations swirling around Washington, but do not underestimate the importance of the Justice Department seizing two months of Associated Press phone records without so much as a heads-up. This not only seems like a case of prosecutorial overreach, even in a case involving national security, it strikes at the heart of what journalists do - and has fostered feelings of betrayal. Does the administration not understand the chilling effect on reporters and their sources, they wonder, or simply not care?
Read more of Howie's two cents here.
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About the host
Brian Stelter is the host of "Reliable Sources" and the senior media correspondent for CNN Worldwide. Before he joined CNN in November 2013, Stelter was a media reporter for The New York Times. He is the author of the New York Times best-seller "Top of the Morning."
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Suddenly, the White House briefing room is filled with confrontational questions. Suddenly, the news pages are ablaze with scandal, and the commentators – even some of the president's usual defenders – are bemoaning his shortcomings. Suddenly, Obama isn't getting the benefit of the doubt."
CNN he is only untouchable because you made him that way.
I watch 'Reliable Sources' every week – one of the few news shows on TV for which I have respect, because it's the media critically evaluating itself. However, Mr. Kurtz et. al. greatly disappointed me this week, inasmuch as NO ONE spent anytime playing devil's advocate for the US government by outlining what was at stake in the leaks to the media that caused the US government to ask for a search warrant. When the media is the only source of news on this story, and its members can only focus on their own sense of outrage, it's hard for the average citizen to develop any appreciation for a fair, balanced view of this issue – and then the media's lack of such becomes the new story. What are you all so afraid of telling us, vis a vis the government's side of this issue?