What Is The Difference Between the Washington Post And A Government Press Release?

Greenwald points to a WaPo piece praising the administration's handing of the Zazi case and plucks out every cited source, in order:

Obama aides pointed . . . administration officials said . . . a senior administration official said . . . officials said . . . a senior administration official said . . . senior Obama officials stressed . . . a senior administration official said . . . aides said . . . officials said . . . one senior administration official said. . . . one senior official said. . . . The official said . . . a senior administration official said . . . a senior administration official said . . . administration officials said . . . . a senior official said.

He lowers the boom:

[W]hat happened here is obvious:  the administration watned to issue a Press Release exploiting the fear surrounding the Zazi case to justify Obama's Bush-copying civil liberties policies (including its current demands for full Bush-era Patriot Act renewal and FISA continuation) while depicting Obama as our careful yet forceful protector.  So they dispatched an official (or officials) to dictate the sanctioned administration line to Anne Kornblut.  She then unquestioningly wrote it all down (after granting them anonymity) and The Post uncritically published it as a "news article."  That's what Washington journalists typically mean by "reporting":  we dutifully write down what government officials tell us to say -- while letting them hide behind anonymity -- and then we publish it.  This morning's Post article is as egregious as it gets.