Rye Reformer-Corner Book Review: "Stonewalled" by Sharyl Attkisson

The following book review was posted by Patch reader tedc (Open Post):

“Stonewalled: My Fight for Truth Against the Forces of Obstruction, Intimidation, and Harassment in Obama’s Washington” is beautifully written new book by one of America’s premier investigative journalists.

Sharyl Attkisson has been in the truth uncovering business for more than thirty years. During that time she has exposed scandals and covered controversies under both Republican and Democratic administrations. She has also seen the opponents of transparency go to ever greater lengths to discourage and obstruct legitimate reporting.

Ms. Attkisson is the recipient of five Emmy Awards and an Edward R. Murrow Award for investigative reporting. Her work has appeared on the CBS Evening News, CBS Sunday Morning, 48 Hours, and CBS This Morning.

As a media industry private equity fund manager who’s previously owned U.S. television stations and newspapers over the decades I can attest that Ms. Attkisson’s stories of news business pushback and news office politics ring absolutely true and sound in fact like they are getting much worse. My former boss-then-partner was once President of CBS, Inc. so I could add a few Blackrock and Dairy Barn tales here picked up from our prior years together but I wouldn’t bother because Ms. Attkisson’s are just as good, many even better, and much more contemporary.

The City of Rye is where I’m from - where I was born, where went to grade school and where I live. And unfortunately in the area of governmental impropriety, Rye is not much different from many other places today. Our growing group of local governmental reformers, working hopefully along with a now similarly minded city council, want things to get better. Kind of like the way things once used to be.

Ms. Attkisson, in turn, provides the following illuminating short story in her book:

“The first time you catch the government in a lie it changes you.

I was twenty-one years old and working as a reporter at WTVX, the local CBS News television station in Vero Beach, Florida. (“X-34 Newwwwwws,” sang our theme song over the video of our smiling news anchors, Michele and Jim, wearing matching bright orange blazers with big X-34 patches on the breast pockets and the geographically incorrect globe spinning behind them.) It’s such a small station and I’m so enthusiastic that I happily perform additional duties as video-tape editor and producer.

I’m covering one of my first big, original stories there when I make contact with a whistleblower who tells me there are places in the county where raw sewage is being secretly, illegally dumped into local waters. The worst part, he says, is that the county water and sewer department knows about it.

It’s a simple story to check out: I figure all I need to do is to call the county and ask. This was a time when I believed the government had to tell the truth. It’s silly in retrospect, but I nonetheless thought there was some sort of unofficial code of ethics, if not something more formal, that required government officials to be honest in their dealings with the public and the press. That they’d be kicked out of the government club if they weren’t.

When I ask the county about the raw sewage allegations, the officials tell me the information I’ve received is absolutely, unequivocally false. And I believe them, at first. Why wouldn’t I? So I go back to my whistleblower but he remains insistent. With his information and assistance, I eventually locate and videotape multiple instances of raw sewage pouring into public tributaries and find evidence that the county had been well aware.

This is my first big lesson on the subject that the government – our government – can lie. And as I continue my career, I come to understand that this type of deception is not an anomaly.”

“Stonewalled” is currently available for sale locally at Arcade Books at 15 Purchase Street in Rye (967-0966).

Because of its compelling subject matter, I would like to offer a complimentary copy of “Stonewalled” to every current member of the Rye City Council – and I’ll offer to deliver the copy to their house, or to city hall, as members might wish. I’m absolutely convinced that they will find it neither dull nor irrelevant.