Carl Limbacher of NewsMax reports:
In what may be an unprecedented act of media censorship, several major TV and cable networks – including NBC, ABC, CBS, MSNBC, Fox and CNN - have cancelled planned appearances of the author of the new, red hot book on Hillary Clinton.
...Hillary's top aides and supporters have also launched a major effort to stop any discussion of the book over the TV airwaves. So far, their censorship effort has been a huge success in stopping Klein from appearing on television.
Though the celebrated author was scheduled to appear on more than a half dozen major TV network shows, all have cancelled except one, Fox's "Hannity & Colmes."
However, conservative host Sean Hannity did reveal that he was under immense pressure to cancel the program.
"I've had more political pressure than I've ever had in all my years in radio," Hannity said to Klein during a radio interview. "Do you know the number of requests I've had to cancel you and not have you on this program? I've never in the history of this program had more demands to cancel the guest."
Hannity did not identify the source of the "political pressure."
Other hosts had similar experiences. Salem Radio Network's Mike Gallagher, syndicated nationwide, said he was deluged by emails opposing Klein's scheduled appearance and demanding he drop the author. Gallagher described the campaign as "very unnatural, like an orchestrated [effort]" and not from his listeners.
But other networks, particularly television, have succumbed to the pressure.
Klein's original schedule had him appearing on several top-rated TV shows. But all of them have cancelled. Among the cancellations: "Extra;" MSNBC's "Hardball with Chris Matthews;" and CNN's Paula Zahn show.
Several shows apparently expressed a keen interest in booking Klein until pressure from the Hillary camp stopped them, among them ABC's "Good Morning America," NBC's "Today" show, and CNN's "Aaron Brown."
Still more shows were expected to sign on after the book began hitting the bestseller lists. It has done just that, but Klein's publicist's phones are still not ringing.
A source close to Klein's publisher, Sentinel, blames the censorship effort solely on the Clintons and their enormous power base.
"A number of people who have booked me on TV and radio have already cancelled," Klein told Sean Hannity last week. "And the reason they've cancelled is because the publicity machine of the Clintons is hard at work."
...[T]he TV cancellations are raising questions about the unusual effort by the Clinton Spin Machine to stop this book.
An MSNBC producer told NewsMax that Chris Matthews' "Hardball" had merely considered booking the Hillary author, saying the idea was dropped when producers found out that the book was "a big piece of crap."
However, another source at the network told NewsMax that MSNBC chief Rick Kaplan has long been close to the Clintons (he was one of the celebrated Friends of Bill and Hillary who spent the night in the Lincoln Bedroom) - a fact that could have played a role in the network snubbing the Klein book.
On the issue of media hypocrisy, NewsMax exposes the glaring double standard of how Kitty Kelley's salacious book on the Bush family was greeted last year versus Ed Klein's Hillary book.
The books are hardly comparable, though; Klein is a veteran, award-winning journalist known for serious, and non political biographies, while Kelley has developed a reputation as a purveyor of gossip on her targets.
Last week, Fox News host Neil Cavuto told his audience, "Kitty [Kelley] was booked on shows. Ed is getting no bookings, period ... Could it be the media relished dirt on the president, less so on the woman who wants to be president?"
With a heated presidential campaign underway last year, Kelley was given star billing on show's like NBC's "Today" show (with an unprecedented interview over three days); CNBC's "Capital Report;" CNN "Newsnight" hosted by Aaron Brown; CNN's "Lou Dobbs Tonight;" CNN's "American Morning" with Paula Zahn; MSNBC's "Hardball" with Chris Matthews, among others.
Though Kelley made unsubstantiated allegations, including charges of illicit sex and drug use against Bush (previously she accused President Reagan of date rape in a book that received page one coverage from the New York Times), her book drew huge media interest.
Limbacher points out that "Klein's story underlines his central complaint that Hillary is dangerous and 'Nixonian' with power. But that may be an understatement. Even Richard Nixon as President didn't have the power Hillary Clinton seems to wield today over the mainstream media."
Sometimes, it seems the Clintons have the power to black out the sun. They have that power only because of the hypocritical actions of most in the media.
Some television outlets no doubt would enjoy the ratings boost a Klein interview would bring; but their rabid anti-Bush, anti-conservative agenda prevents them.
While some of the outlets that bowed to the Hillary camp's pressure are simply cowardly, others prove themselves to be willing arms of the Clinton 2008 machine.
Rather than having the TV spotlight that Kelley received, Klein must be content with radio interviews.
Unfortunately for Hillary, her TV media blackout doesn't seem to be hurting Klein's sales.
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