The Deputy Press Secretary for the Bush Administration, Tony Fratto, recently slammed the White House press corps for, he said, credulously reporting the Obama adminstration’s “claims of ‘jobs saved’ attributed to the stimulus bill,” calling the claims a “breathtaking deception” and challenging reporters to “vigorously question” them.
Via Twitter this morning, CBS News’s Mark Knoller responds:
(Reporting a claim not same as believing one.)
And, a few minutes later:
It’s part of the dilemma reporters face. Do we only report official claims we can verify?
And then, Knoller seems to answer himself:
Liz Cox Barrett is a writer at CJR.When the president says his budget will cut the deficit in half in four years – that’s a prediction. No way to verify. But I report it.
