Why Politicians Hate the Press

It’s not hard to get political reporters started on how pols and their flaks deny the press access, feed us talking points and, in some cases, flat-out lie. But every story has two sides (or a few), so in fair journalistic tradition, we asked a handful of outspoken politicians to critique the political press corps and tell us exactly what their beef is with the fourth estate. Does the relationship between politicians and the press need to be so confrontational? And when are reporters in the wrong? Here are four takes, from politicians who know the media’s spotlight well:

Howard Dean, former governor of Vermont: “The press is still free and is still able to bring up issues that nobody else is willing to bring up. In their core role, they still do what they have to do. But in terms of educating the public, their credibility has gone way down....The reason they have a bad relationship with the press is that the press asks for it.”

Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the House: "The media today is driven by numbers. If you get a congressman idiotic enough to take pictures of himself and tweet them out, that gets 600 times more coverage than the dangers of an Iranian nuclear weapon....This will be a goofy analogy, but in a sense we need a little more 'Downton Abbey' and a little less 'House of Cards.'”

Michele Bachmann, former US congresswoman from Minnesota: "Sometimes it’s true -- reporters truly holding high journalistic standards. I wish that’s what reporters would do, hold politicians accountable and inform the public. But when it comes to Obama, the media forms a protective bubble and would never pound him for his domestic and foreign policy failures the way they do for a conservative. The mainstream media is, in a broad brushstroke way, disrespectfully lazy. They don’t do their work to understand a story.”

Barney Frank, former US congressman from Massachusetts: “When I first entered office, there was a healthy skepticism, but you were as likely to get positive as negative news. but over time I think the press has developed a serious bias towards negativism...We also have intellectual voter suppression from some of my friends on the left, who say, ‘These politicians don’t pay any attention to you. They’re only interested in big money.’ If people believe that, why would they vote? The press does that, too. If people think nothing good ever happens, the incentive to vote is diminished.”