Radio Host Sullivan: NYT Fired Abramson for Criticizing Obama

The firing of Jill Abramson as executive editor of The New York Times happened because she "went over the line" in criticizing the heavy-handed tactics used by the Obama administration in dealing with the media, claims radio talk show host Tom Sullivan.

Sullivan pointed out that "earlier this year" (in fact, just last month, in an interview with The Takeaway) Abramson said,  "The Obama years are a benchmark for a new level of secrecy and control." He said she added that "sources who want to come forward with stories they feel are important are scared to death they're going to be prosecuted."

In January, Abramson called the Obama administration the "most secretive White House" she has covered during her time as a political journalist and later said national security reporting is "effectively being criminalized" under Obama.

Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., publisher of The Times, announced Wednesday that Abramson had been fired, citing "an issue with management in the newsroom."

Numerous reports have suggested the problem stemmed from Abramson's complaint that her pay was less than that of her predecessor, Bill Keller. Sullivan called that explanation "bogus."

Amid the numerous scandals of the Obama administration, Sullivan said accounts of the White House going after the media have been largely ignored. He said issues such as the seizure of phone records of the Associated Press and the tracking of phone records and emails of Fox News Washington correspondent James Rosen have been "swept under the rug."

"She went over the line," Sullivan told Fox Business Network's "Varney & Co." on Friday.

"There's no other answer here. Nothing else makes sense."

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Sullivan explained that The New York Times was the Obama administration's "newspaper of record" for their base. As such, he said the newspaper would not want to be known as "a bad apple group" by the White House.

Sullivan, who hosts "The Tom Sullivan Show" on Fox Business Radio, said he got the tip for the theory from a caller who described himself as a Washington insider. Sullivan said the explanation was "the secret buzz going on inside the beltway."

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