Abramson: Gov’t Kept Warning Us of ‘Blood on Our Hands’ over Certain Stories

Former New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson is making the media rounds this week opening up about her firing, and in an interview with Cosmopolitan magazine, Abramson talks about that whole mess, but she also reveals a bit about the Times‘ clashes with the government over printing sensitive information.

Abramson explained how she felt in the wake of her sudden firing and gave her thoughts on the climate for female journalists and Hillary Clinton, but she also opened up about how she dealt with government officials when they came calling to complain about a certain story and warn the Times not to publish them for national security purposes.

And while Abramson understands that a balance needs to be struck, she said the government pushed it just a little too far.

Over time, the government too reflexively said to the Times, “you’re going to have blood on your hands if you publish X,” and because of the frequency of that, the government lost a little credibility. But you do listen and seriously worry. Editors are Americans too. We don’t want to help terrorists.

You can check out the full interview here.

[h/t POLITICO]
[image via screengrab]

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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

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