SALON

Monday, Sep 28, 2009 3:46 PM UTC

The right sees an Obama Olympic conspiracy

Led by Matt Drudge, conservatives see an attempt to shut down media coverage that might hurt the president

By

Topics: Barack Obama, War Room, Matt Drudge,

President Obama is going to Denmark this week to lobby on behalf of his adopted hometown’s bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. That means Chicago’s effort has become a target for the president’s opponents, including Drudge Report editor Matt Drudge.

As of this post, Drudge’s site is currently leading with one of his occasional exclusives. This one features a banner headine screaming, “Fox-TV Chicago ordered not to run anti-Olympics story.”

“A local TV station that reported on Chicagoans NOT wanting the Olympics has been told NOT to run the report again, insiders tell the DRUDGE REPORT!,” Drudge says. “The Chicago Olympic Committee told FOX Chicago that its broadcast ‘would harm Chicago’s chances’ to be awarded the games. The station’s news director ordered staff to hold fire after the report aired once last Thursday morning, claims a source.”

A report like this, exclusive or not, wouldn’t normally merit prime placement on Drudge’s site. But with Obama’s involvement, it becomes a banner headline, because the newsman’s implication is clear: The media’s being told to back off from a story that could hurt the president, and because the press is in the White House’s pocket, they’re complying. Conservative bloggers are, of course, picking up the story and running with it in that direction.

In truth, of course, the real story’s almost certainly much simpler than that. Executives and PR people try to wave reporters off stories all the time if those stories mean bad press. Drudge’s report seems to indicate that’s what happened here. And if the news director did order his staff not to run a story about anti-Olympic sentiment again, odds are it’s because station management can do math — while normal Chicagoans might hate the idea of hosting the Olympics, it’ll turn out to be a financial windfall for local television. And in the interim, powerful advertisers are probably backing the city’s bid; in this economy, the station won’t want to risk losing that business.

Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon. More Alex Koppelman.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 22 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Oklahoma senator: Tornado aid “totally different” from Sandy aid
3120 points3121 points | 2640 comments
vote
Anyone Regret Slashing National Weather Service Budget Now?: With GOP-backed cuts to forecasting agency, experts warn future storms will go undetected and more lives lost
1106 points1107 points | 590 comments
vote
Oklahoma senator wants to offset tornado aid with other cuts
149 points150 points | 61 comments
vote
New campaign compares gun control to anti-LGBT discrimination
30 points31 points | 11 comments
vote
Horrifying new trend: Posting rapes to Facebook " In Chicago this weekend, prosecutors announced three teenaged boys will tried as adults for aggravated criminal sexual assault after allegedly raping a 12-year-old girl — and posting a video of the attack on Facebook."
34 points35 points | 15 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations