Don't Hurt Adam Nagourney's Feelings

The New York Times' reporter recently claimed to have felt the sting of the Obama campaign after it publicly critiqued one of his stories. Nagourney "flipped out" and felt like the Obama camp treated him like a "political opponent."

Oh brother. Republican politicians, and Republican candidates, have been attacking journalists and treating them like political opponents for years now. But why didn't reporters complain publicly -- why didn't they flip out, as Nagourney called it -- about the naked GOP attacks? I didn't hear many industry-wide cries of consternation then. Instead, it's only considered to be newsworthy, and to be a point of deep media concern, when a Democrat is accused of slighting the press.

When the GOP plays hardball with the press, journalists tough it out. When Democrats play hardball, reporters consider the jousting to be some sort of personal attack and rush to complain how nasty the Dems are behaving.

Read the full Media Matters column here.