Sharyl Attkisson: It Was 'Easy To Want To Leave' CBS News

Sharyl Attkisson: Leaving CBS News Was 'Easy'

Former CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson opened up on Sunday about her recent resignation from the network and the "unprecedented" restrictions that journalists face under the Obama administration.

Attkisson resigned from CBS News as an investigative reporter in March, after a 20-year career with the network. In an interview with Fox News host Howard Kurtz that aired Sunday, the former reporter spoke about her decision to leave and exposed some of the frustrations she faced as a journalist.

"In the end, it was pretty easy to want to leave because there really wasn't much left for me to do," she said, later adding that, "there is pressure coming to bear on journalists for just doing their job in ways that have never come to bear before."

Attkisson gained a great deal of attention as a reporter in the last few years for her coverage of Benghazi, Obamacare, and government obstruction. She told Kurtz she struggled to get her stories on the air, and the problem is "part of a broader trend" happening in journalism today. There is a clear decline of interest in "original and investigative, in-depth reporting," she said.

"There's come to be a narrowing universe of stories that are desired by the broadcasts, and it leaves us with, sometimes, I think, newscasts that don't dig very deep," she said. "There's just a tendency to avoid certain controversies."

Attkisson told Kurtz she's not the only reporter who feels there's declining interest in investigative reporting. Journalists at CBS News and other outlets are sometimes "not happy" with the kind of work they are being told to do, according to Attkisson.

"When a broadcast doesn't want a story, they don't really say those things to you," she said. "They simply don't air the story."

Attkisson also called out the press for being "very shy" about challenging the Obama administration, and added that she did not encounter that kind of timidness when she covered the Bush administration. She said both the restrictions on the press and the secrecy under the Obama administration are "aggressive" and "unprecedented"

Watch the video for a clip from the interview.

(h/t: Mediaite)

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