Barack Obama’s White House is spending more than $80,000 a week to staff its old and new media offices. Add the price of speechwriters and the White House communications tab reaches nearly $100,000 a week, or nearly $5 million a year-and that is for salaries alone.
Based on the coverage the President has garnered so far, it is money well spent.
Accuracy In Media gathered the data from the White House’s annual salary report to Congress, which was released last week. AIM identified a total of 66 staffers with some connection to Obama’s messaging machine-press secretaries and assistants, communications directors, new media specialists, speechwriters, and the staff of the new Office of Public Engagement.
……ABC News White House reporter Jake Tapper wondered, “Do Obama White House officials think their media coverage isn’t flattering enough?”
They have no rational reason not to trust a press corps that thinks Obama is “sort of God” (according to Evan Thomas), arranges questions with the press team and airs one-sided special reports from the White House. But it’s obvious from the way the White House has been controlling reporters at press conferences, producing its own pool reports and orchestrating faux town halls that Obama wants even more unfiltered control over both his message and his public image than past presidents.
He is willing to pay millions of taxpayer dollars to achieve that goal.
Overall, Obama is spending about 12 percent more for his communications operation than Bush-$4.97 million compared with $4.44 million. Along with Jarrett in the public engagement office, the top earners at $172,200 are communications director Anita Dunn, press secretary Robert Gibbs and speechwriting director Jonathan Favreau.
http://www.aim.org/aim-column/the-cost-of-controlling-the-press/
Obama was abetted into office by a fawning press, he has hired people from the MSM to staff his media offices, he manipulates them to sell his socialist economic and foreign policies, yet Helen Thomas has the gall to complain that he treats them like “puppets”.
They serve as tools, so they’re treated as such.