The post offers this take:

“This is starting to feel like a house of mirrors, as conservatives begin to hatch conspiracies within conspiracies about the Fast and Furious story.

“As Media Matters has chronicled for the last year, the far-right press, led by Fox News, has been incessantly pushing the ATF’s failed Fast and Furious gun operation, convinced the White House and the Department of Justice are covering up high crimes. Now as a subplot, conservatives have hatched a mini-conspiracy. The claim: CBS News is ‘silencing’ its Fast and Furious reporter. And doing it on behalf of the White House!

“The reporter in question, Sharyl Attkisson, was celebrated by the right-wing this week when she appeared on conservative talker Laura Ingraham’s radio show to push her Fast and Furious work and promptly announced she had been yelled at by administration officials, critical of her reporting. (Right-wing bloggers thought the revelation was hugely important and damning, proving once again few of them have ever worked in a big-time newsroom where animated push back is not uncommon.)”

Our response first asks where is the outrage that this story happened at all? If it were not for the right-wing media few would know about an operation that cost the life of an American border control agent. And why doesn’t Media Matters note that the story has gotten virtually no coverage on ABC or NBC? The nightly news can devote nearly half the news cast to the death of Steve Jobs this week, take endless looks at the royal wedding last spring and cover protests around the globe, but fails to note that the Attorney General may have lied to Congress!

Media Matters suggests that Fox News is convinced the White House and DOG are covering up high crimes, but the truth is that the media is doing a good job itself by not covering this story.

And finally, why doesn’t it matter that Attkisson was “yelled at” by the White House? Wouldn’t there be outrage if this had happened when President Bush was still in office?

Mediaite has followed the media coverage, as has The Weekly Standard. According to Mediaite:

“The dust-up between CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson, and spokespeople from the White House and the Justice Department over her reporting on Fast and Furious, has become a cause celebre for the right, and a meta-story all its own. Jay Carney responded obliquely to the incident at yesterday’s briefing by pointing out that “tough conversations” are all in a day’s work. Mark Hemingway, of Bill Kristol‘s Weekly Standard, adds another layer to the onion by conspiratorially asking if CBS News is “Silencing Fast and Furious Reporter” Sharyl Attkisson.”

The Weekly Standard offered its own more detailed take, noting that Attkisson told radio talk show host Laura Ingraham:

“[The White House and Justice Department] will tell you that I’m the only reporter–as they told me–that is not reasonable. They say the Washington Post is reasonable, the LA Times is reasonable, the New York Times is reasonable, I’m the only one who thinks this is a story, and they think I’m unfair and biased by pursuing it.”

The Weekly Standard added:

“That’s significant, because CBS News, and Attkisson in particular, has done more reporting to advance the Fast and Furious scandal than arguably any other media outlet.”

This is true, and if CBS falls silent, will the truth on Fast and Furious actually get out? It is almost as if the mainstream media doesn’t want Eric Holder, or his boss President Obama to look bad.

Our friends at Newsbusters noted, “CBS Highlights ‘Fast & Furious”; ABC, NBC Place Heads in the Sand.” This is disturbing, but is worse when Newsbusters explains in detail:

“‘CBS Evening News’ distinguished itself among the Big Three networks on Monday by devoting an entire segment to the ongoing controversy over the ‘Fast and Furious’ program, where the federal government smuggled guns to Mexican drug cartels. NBC hasn’t mentioned the story on its news programs since April 17, while the last time ABC covered it was a news brief on June 15.”

It is important to note that CBS News essentially helped break this story, which could explain why ABC and NBC are silent, but consider that the two networks take time to note that Amanda Knox was acquitted, and last week devoted a segment to Michelle Obama shopping at Target! Those may be news stories too, but the fact that the Attorney General Eric Holder may have lied to Congress probably deserves some airtime!