I'M VICTOR BLACKWELL. "RELIABLE SOURCES" STARTS RIGHT NOW. >> GOOD MORNING AND WELCOME TO "RELIABLE SOURCES." UP FIRST THIS MORNING, SERIOUS ACCUSATIONSJOURNALASTIC ACCUSATIONS. THEY COME FROM A RESIGNATION OF SOMEONE WHO WAS HIRED WITH FOX TWICE. ATTKISSON LEFT CBS BECAUSE SHE SENSED LIBERAL BIAS. IN OTHER WORDS, BECAUSE SUPPOSEDLY LIBERAL EXEC TUTIVE PRODUCERS DIDN'T LIKE HER STORIES CRITICAL OF THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION LIKE HEALTH CARE OVERALL AND THE KILLING OF FOUR AMERICANS IN BENGHAZI, LIBYA. WHEN I SAT DOWN TO TALK TO ATTKISSON THIS WEEK, IT TURNS OUT SHE HAD A STORY TO TELL SHE HAD NOT TOLD BEFORE. A NEW ORGANIZATION THAT SHE CLAIMED WILL CAVE CORPORATE INTERESTS AND THAT POLITICAL BIAS TELL WHAT STORIES HAVE TO AIR. I ALSO TOLD HER IMPORTANT QUESTIONS FOX NEWS HAD NOT ASKED HER, ABOUT CLAIMS OF ACCURACY AND RIGOR IN HER OWN WORK. LISTEN TO HER STORY. SHARYL, THANK YOU FOR JOINING ME. YOU WORKED FOR 28 YEARS FOR CBS. WHAT LED YOU TO END IT? >> THERE WAS A CLIMBING REQUIREMENT FOR REPORTING OF THE KIND I WAS OFFERING, AND IT CAME TO A POINT WHERE IT DIDN'T SEEM LIKE THERE WAS MUCH LEFT TO DO. >> YOU SAID THERE WASN'T MUCH OF AN APPETITE FOR YOUR KIND? >> I THINK IN GENERAL THE CORRESPONDENCE WILL TELL YOU AT CBS AND OTHER PLACES AS WELL THAT THERE IS A DECLINING APPETITE FOR THIS ON THE BROADCASTS. AND IN SOME CASES, I THINK IT'S SEEN MAYBE AS TOO MUCH TROUBLE BECAUSE OF THE PUSH-BACK AND THE ORGANIZED CAMPAIGNS THAT COME TO BEAR ON US WHEN WE'RE WORKING ON THESE STORIES AND AFTERWARDS AS WELL. >> WHAT KIND OF CAMPAIGN? >> SPECIAL INTERESTS. GOVERNMENT HAS ADOPTED CAMPAIGNS THAT REMIND ME MUCH OF WHAT CORPORATIONS HAVE ALWAYS DONE. E-MAIL CAMPAIGNS, TELEPHONE CALLS. >> YOU MEAN COMPLAINTS ABOUT A STORY AFTER IT'S AIRED, THAT KIND OF THING? >> PRIOR TO IT AIRING WHEN THEY GET WIND THAT IT'S GOING TO AIR. AS IT AIRS, AFTER IT AIRS. THERE ARE SURROGATES WHO ACT IN THE CAPACITY OF BLOGGERS. SOME HOLD THEMSELVES OUT TO BE INDEPENDENT AND REALLY AREN'T INDEPENDENT AT ALL, BUT THEY'VE LAUNCHED THIS SORT OF OPPOSITION CAMPAIGN OR EFFORT THAT STARTS VERY EARLY, AS SOON AS THEY CATCH WIND THAT A CONTROVERSIAL STORY MIGHT BE DONE. >> WITH VARIOUS STORIES YOU GET THE IDEA THAT AT SOME POINT THEY JUST WANT YOU TO STOP. AND IT'S NOT JUST POLITICAL STORIES. YOU WENT ON TO SAY IT'S STORIES OF OTHER THINGS. WHO ARE THEY IN THAT CASE? IS THAT CBS PRODUCERS, EXECUTIVES? SOMEONE ELSE? >> OVER THE YEARS IT'S BEEN A VARIETY OF PEOPLE, BUT I WOULD SAY MORE RECENTLY THE UNSTOPPABLE FORCE HAS BEEN THE BROADCAST, THE PRODUCERS THAT DECIDE WHAT GETS ON THE AIR IN A GIVEN DAY. >> THE EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS OF CBS NEWS OR CBS THIS MORNING? >> YES. >> CAN YOU TELL ME A CONCRETE EXAMPLE OF A STORY THAT SEEMED TO GET QUARTERBASQUASHED ALONG R SHUT DOWN ALONG THE WAY? >> THERE WAS A CAPITALIST WHO I KNOW WAS TRYING TO CALL CAPITOL HILL TO TRY TO SQUELCH REPORTING ON THE TOPIC. I KNOW THEY WERE ALSO TALKING TO CBS BECAUSE THAT'S THE REGULAR PROCESS. I THOUGHT IT WAS A MEANINGFUL STORY. MY PRODUCERS DID AS WELL AFTER LOOKING AT IT, AND IN THE END THAT STORY WASN'T ALLOWED TO AIR. THEY DIDN'T SAY IT WASN'T AIRING BECAUSE THERE WAS A CORPORATE INTEREST AT STAKE. WE WERE TOLD AT THE LAST MINUTE AFTER IT HAD BEEN APPROVED AND DONE AND PEOPLE LIKED IT THAT PERHAPS IT WASN'T ALL THAT INTERESTING OR PERHAPS WE SHOULD WAIT UNTIL THE GOVERNMENT CAME DOWN AND MADE UP ITS MIND ON THE CONTROVERSY AT HAND, AND THEN PERHAPS WE COULD DO THE STORY. >> WHAT ARE THE REASONS, SO FAR AS YOU CAN TELL, YOU HAD INCREASING DIFFICULTY GETTING ON THE AIR. WE SAID EARLIER A 21-YEAR HISTORY AT CBS. ARE THERE PARTICULAR REASONS YOU CAN CITE FOR WHY YOU THINK YOU WERE HAVING A HARD TIME GETTING STORIES ON? >> WE HAD A TOTAL CHANGE IN MANAGEMENT. AT THE TIME AFTER KATIE COURIC LEFT, THE TOP MANAGERS VERY MUCH IN THE STORIES OF GOVERNMENT WASTE AND GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT, ALL OF THEM LEFT AT ONE TIME. >> NEW PRESIDENT CAME IN, NEW CHAIRMAN OF CBS NEWS, A BUNCH OF NEW BOSSES AS WELL. >> YES. >> LET ME READ THIS FROM THE "WASHINGTON POST." THIS WAS RIGHT AROUND THE TIME YOU WERE RESIGNING FROM CBS. ACCORDING TO A CBS NEWS SOURCE YOU FELT YOU WERE BEING KEPT OFF CBS EVENING NEWS BECAUSE OF POLITICAL CONSIDERATIONS. DID YOU FEEL THAT WAY? WERE THERE POLITICAL CONSIDERATIONS AT TIMES? >> IT'S VERY WELL DISCUSSED INSIDE CBS NEWS THAT THERE ARE SOME MANAGERS RECENTLY WHO HAVE BEEN SO IDEALOGICALLY ENTRENCHED THAT THERE IS A FEELING AND DISCUSSION THAT SOME OF THEM, CERTAINLY NOT ALL OF THEM, HAVE A DIFFICULT TIME VIEWING A STORY THAT MAY REFLECT NEGATIVELY UPON GOVERNMENT OR THE ADMINISTRATION AS A STORY OF VALUE. >> SO YOU'RE SAYING THEY ARE LIBERAL OR DEMOCRATS? >> I DON'T KNOW WHAT THEIR REGISTERED PARTY IS, I JUST KNOW THAT THE TENDENCY ON THE PART OF SOME OF THESE MANAGERS WHO HAVE KEY INFLUENCES HAS BEEN THEY NEVER MIND THE STORIES THAT SEEM TO, FOR EXAMPLE, AND I DID PLENTY OF THEM, GO AGAINST THE GRAIN OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, BUT THEY DO OFTEN SEEM TO FEEL DEFENSIVE ABOUT, ALMOST, PERSONALLY DEFENSIVE ON STORIES THAT COULD MAKE THE GOVERNMENT LOOK BAD. EVEN IF IT'S A STORY THAT'S AS SIMPLE AS A GOVERNMENT WAERS STORY THAT DOESN'T PINPOINT ANYBODY. IT SEEMS AS THOUGH SOME OF THEM WERE SENSIBLE ABOUT ANY STORY THAT MIGHT APPEAR AS THOUGH IT CRITICIZES THE GOVERNMENT. >> A COUPLE NEWS STORY ABOUT YOUR RESIGNATION CITED. IS THAT AN EXAMPLE OF SOMEONE YOU FELT HAD THIS IDEALOGICAL STAND AND WAS UNCOMFORTABLE WITH STORIES ABOUT THE ADMINISTRATION THAT WERE UNFLATTERING. >> PAT SCHEFFLER WAS THE EXECUTIVE PRODUCER OF THE EVENING NEWS, AND I THINK THERE'S NO SECRET THAT THERE WERE A NUMBER OF PEOPLE AT CBS NEWS THAT HAD SERIOUS ISSUES, BUT -- >> SERIOUS ISSUES. WHAT DO YOU MEAN? >> THERE WERE DISCUSSIONS ABOUT CERTAIN TYPES OF STORIES THAT GOT ON THE AIR, THERE WERE DISCUSSIONS ABOUT THE HEAVY-HANDED EDITING. IN OTHER WORDS, WE HAD NOT EXPERIENCED -- AT LEAST I HAD NOT EXPERIENCED AND SOME OF THEM SAID THEY HAD NOT EXPERIENCED THE EXTENT TO WHICH SOME OF THE EDITING WENT ON. THAT MAY NOT BE JUST HER. THERE ARE CERTAINLY A GROUP OF MANAGERS IN WHAT THEY CALL THE FISHBOWL OF NEW YORK WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE, SO IT'S HARD TO SAY IT'S ALL AT THE GUIDANCE OF HER, BUT SHE IS EXECUTIVE PRODUCER OF THE SHOW. >> THE PRESIDENT OF CBS NEWS THE LAST COUPLE YEARS HAS BEEN DAVID RHODES AND HIS BROTHER BEN RHODES IS A SPEAKER AT THE WHITE HOUSE. DO YOU THINK IT HAD ANY EFFECT ON THEIR INTEREST OR LACK OF INTEREST ON STORIES INVOLVING THE ADMINISTRATION. >> IN ONE OR MORE CONVERSATIONS THAT DAVID AND I HAD, HE WAS VERY MUCH IN TUNE WITH, HE TOLD ME AT LEAST, THE TYPES OF STORIES THAT I DO, THE TYPES OF JOURNALISM HE THOUGHT WE SHOULD BE DOING, AND I SAID WE HAD A MEETING OF THE MINDS ON THAT THAT DIDN'T TRANSLATE TO THE BROADCASTS. >> IS THERE A PATTERN YOU DETECTED IF YOU WERE TO PITCH A STORY ABOUT REPUBLICANS THAT WAS TROUBLING THAT IT WOULD GET REJECTED, OR IF YOU PICTURED A STORY ABOUT DEMOCRATS, IT WOULD GET SUPPORTED? IN GENERAL THERE ARE PATTERNS OF RECENT STORIES BEING EMBRACED. IF THEY WERE SEEN AS BEING POSITIVE TO GOVERNMENT. >> AND IS THAT -- IS THAT AFTER 2009 OR IS THAT AT ALL TIMES, INCLUDING WHEN A REPUBLICAN WAS IN THE WHITE HOUSE? >> I DON'T REMEMBER HAVING POLITICAL TROUBLES PER SE. YOU'RE ASKING ME A QUESTION I REALLY HAVE TO THINK HARD ABOUT AND I DON'T HAVE THE TIME TO GO THROUGH IT RIGHT NOW. I WOULD SAY IT GENERAL, I DON'T REMEMBER ANY OF THE SAME KIND OF PROBLEMS WHEN WE HAD THE LAST MANAGEMENT OF ADMINISTRATION. RICK KAPLAN WAS EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, PAUL FRIEDMAN WAS VICE PRESIDENT, SHAWN McMANUS WAS PRESIDENT OF THE NEWS. IN THAT ERA, I PROPOSED STORIES AND NO ONE EVER ASKED ME WHERE THEY WERE GOING AND WHAT SIDE THEY MIGHT COME DOWN ON IN THE END, BECAUSE WE OFTEN DIDN'T KNOW. WE WOULD COVER A STORY AND IT ENDED UP WHERE IT ENDED UP. I THINK THE CHANGE NOW IS THERE ARE MANAGERS IN NEW YORK WHO WANTS TO KNOW HOW THE STORY WILL COME OUT, AND IF IT DOESN'T COME OUT THE WAY THEY LIKE, FOR MANY DIFFERENT REASONS, THEY'LL DIE THE DEATH OF A THOUSAND CUTS. >> THERE IS A DIFFERENCE POTENTIALLY BETWEEN AVOIDING STORIES THAT WOULD HURT THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION AND ADJOINING STORIES OF WHATEVER ADMINISTRATION HAPPENED TO BE IN POWER. >> I DIDN'T SENSE ANY RESISTANCE TO DOING STORIES THAT WERE PERCEIVED
