CBS honchos stuck their heads in the sand Monday rather than address a former veteran reporter’s memoir that revealed how the network routinely canned stories it perceived as anti-Obama.
Everyone from network CEO Les Moonves to “Evening News’’ anchor Scott Pelley to former “Evening News’’ Executive Producer Patricia Shevlin ignored repeated phone calls and e-mails from The Post seeking comment on the bombshell claim by ex-CBS investigative ace Sharyl Attkisson.
In her new book, “Stonewalled: My Fight for Truth Against the Forces of Obstruction, Intimidation, and Harassment in Obama’s Washington,” Attkisson charges that CBS higher-ups quashed her reporting on the deadly attack on the US Embassy in Benghazi, Libya, as well as reports on the federal “Fast and Furious’’ gun-running scandal and the president’s ObamaCare debacle.
Moonves failed to answer repeated phone calls or an e-mail seeking comment.
A secretary for David Rhodes, president of CBS News, immediately volleyed a Post reporter’s phone call to company spokeswoman Sonya McNail. Before the reporter could even ask a question, McNair curtly said, “We decline to comment. Thank you. Bye.”
“Evening News” anchor Scott Pelley’s assistant did not respond to numerous e-mails, and he didn’t return a call to his office.
Attkisson said in her book that under Pelley’s leadership at “Evening News,” her investigative pieces began getting killed regularly.
Former “Evening News’’ Executive Producer Patricia Shevlin, now a producer at “60 Minutes,” also didn’t return a call, with the CBS operator saying the top exec was too busy to talk to The Post.
Attkisson has claimed that after she complained that the network shelved several of her reports on Solyndra — the Obama-supporting green-energy firm that went bankrupt despite hundreds of millions of dollars in government handouts — Shevlin replied, “What’s the matter, don’t you support green energy?”
Attkisson, who worked at CBS for 20 years, finally quit the network in frustration earlier this year.
Attkisson’s publicist said she won’t be giving any interviews until next week, although she’s staying busy on Twitter going off on the dangers of vaccinations.
“One of the most instructive things at the time, for me, was when govt researchers told me that even though all the studies showed flu shots didn’t work in the elderly, they figured the STUDIES were wrong because they “knew” flu shots worked!’’ Attkisson tweeted.
“Kind of reminds me of today’s CDC that looks at all the scientific links between vaccines and autism but ‘knows’ it can’t be so, so it changes the study data or finds other explanations for why the data says what it says,” she wrote.
Her book is set to be released Nov. 4.
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