Sharyl Attkisson is a nonpartisan investigative journalist, five-time Emmy Award winner, and recipient of the Edward R. Murrow award for investigative reporting. She is the New York Times bestselling author. For thirty years, Attkisson was a correspondent and anchor at CBS News, PBS, CNN and in local news.
Stonewalled (2014): My Fight for Truth Against the Forces of Obstruction, Intimidation, & Harassment in Obama’s Washington
- “THE POLITICAL-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX Big corporations rule the world. You may choose not to believe it. That’s exactly what they’re counting on. They influence vast amounts of information we receive. They control some facets of government so effectively that the government has all but given up trying to resist it. And it’s the same whether we’re talking about Democrats or Republicans.”
. - “We must challenge any administration both publicly and legally if they violate ethics or the law, or betray the public they’re supposed to serve.”
. - “A single billion is a pretty big number, let alone three. One billion minutes ago the Roman Empire was dominating the earth. One billion hours ago, we were in the Stone Age.”
. - “In reality, for those who bother to look, history and experience teach that the biggest dose of skepticism should be reserved for the authorities that seek to influence us and the information they want us to receive.”
. - “When it comes to green energy investigations, I conclude that the internal opposition I face has its origins in the personal beliefs of those who decide which stories go on the air and which are kept off. The purpose of the stories I propose isn’t to examine the general merits or shortfalls of the technology, ideology, or movement. They’re financial stories delving into possible waste, abuse, and questionable spending of tax dollars. What I didn’t anticipate is that some colleagues and managers, unable to disconnect their personal viewpoints from their duty as journalists, would view this line of reporting as damaging to a cause about which they hold deep-rooted beliefs. Fearful that the stories would discourage rather than promote green energy, they want to prevent the public from seeing them at all. It’s a paternalistic attitude that results in de facto censorship. Simply put: they decide that it’s best for you to not hear a story at all rather than run the risk that you might see it and form the “wrong” opinion. (By that, I mean an opinion that differs from theirs.)”
. - “Worried about the wrong things and not worried about the right things. The tendency to stick to mostly “safe” stories means you’ll see a lot of so-called day-of-air reports on topics that won’t generate pushback from the special interests we care about. Think: weather, polls, surveys, studies, positive medical news, the pope, celebrities, obituaries, press conferences, government announcements, animals, the British royals, and heartwarming features. They fill airtime much like innocuous white noise.”
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The Smear (2017): How Shady Political Operatives and Fake News Control What You See, What You Think, and How You Vote
- “We’re living amid an artificial reality, persuaded to believe it’s real by astroturf engineered to look like grassroots.”
. - “The smear artist reveals himself by his disparate treatment of people and situations. He drapes himself in a superhero cape, claiming to defend the aggrieved. He pretends to right societal wrongs. In fact, though, he’s motivated primarily by paid interests and his own selfish agendas. By definition, the job requires that morality and conscience be cast aside.”
. - “All of this evokes the dicta of successful historic propagandists described earlier. From Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals:
>”Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.”
>”Keep the pressure on. Never let up.”
> “development of operations that will keep a constant pressure on the opposition.”
>”Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.”
>”Not every item of news should be published. Rather must those who control news policies endeavor to make every item of news serve a certain purpose.”
>”Propaganda must facilitate the displacement of aggression by specifying the targets for hatred.”
. - “We plaster our news reports with political pundits not offering independent opinions but serving their masters.”
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Slanted (2020): How the News Media Taught Us to Love Censorship and Hate Journalism
- “When it comes to news reporting, the center has been dragged so far left that a neutral posture is now viewed as right wing. Liberal or anti-Trump views—those are considered good, truth-telling journalism. At least that’s what the afflicted seem to believe. But raise questions about fairness or consider alternate viewpoints—that simply proves you’re the one who’s biased. Maybe even (gasp!) conservative. (Although you’re not.)”
. - “Debunked”: This word was rarely used in news reporting until a few years ago. That’s when propagandists began deploying the term to discredit theories, stories, and science with which they disagree. In fact, when special interests launch this word, it often means the opposite is the case: the targeted idea has not been debunked at all. Oftentimes, the idea in question is a subject of legitimate dispute or has actually proven to be true. Therefore, it is often inaccurate for news reporters to jump on the “debunked” bandwagon.”
. - “Right now, as you read these words, versions of history and current events are being written and revised in real time according to what powerful interests wish them to say. Our “memory hole” is found in growing efforts to “curate” or censor information on the news, ban certain facts, declare selected viewpoints illegitimate, cleanse social media of particular accounts, and judge people and events of the distant past using today’s evolving and controversial standards. Even those who know better are left to guess and wonder how many others like them are out there—how many of the unindoctrinated who don’t buy the spin?”
. - “We in the media have, to a frightening degree, gotten on board with the efforts to convince the public that they do not need or deserve access to all information, only that which powerful interests see fit for them to have.”
. - “It is important to recognize that the people behind a narrative do not always have cynical or evil motives. They may even be acting according to what they believe to be a higher purpose. In such cases, these people share an important belief: that they are smarter than you are. They do not trust you to process information and draw your own conclusions because you might draw the wrong ones. You must not be left to your own devices. So, much like Big Brother, they dictate which views are to be considered legitimate and which are off-limits. They tell you what to think.”
. - “Through his unconventional ways that defied predictions and operated outside the controlling narratives, Trump exposed bias, flaws, and weaknesses in the news media, causing its members to lose their collective mind and shed all pretense of objectivity. The media at large became committed to a political agenda to undermine and ultimately remove Trump from office. Which only served to prove his point about their bias.”
. - “The Narrative is guiding what facts you get to learn about. Facts that serve The Narrative are deemed to be “news.” Facts that don’t are not news. Or are to be obliterated.”
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