Newscom

Newscom

Jill Abramson, in her third year as the first female executive editor of The New York Times, describes President Obama’s administration as extremely secretive.

“The Obama years are a benchmark for a new level of secrecy and control,” Abramson said in an interview with The Takeaway. “It’s created quite a challenging atmosphere for The New York Times, and for some of the best reporters in my newsroom who cover national security issues in Washington.”

She continues:

I would say it is the most secretive White House that I have ever been involved in covering, and that includes — I spent 22 years of my career in Washington and covered presidents from President Reagan on up through now, and I was Washington bureau chief of the Times during George W. Bush’s first term.”

Last month, New York Times reporter and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner James Risen said the Obama administration is “the greatest enemy of press freedom that we have encountered in at least a generation.”