Author Edward Klein and his defenders, including right-wing website NewsMax.com, have claimed that Klein is the victim of a media blackout -- that his supposed lack of media attention is the result not of the sleazy, error-filled nature of Klein's attack book on Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), The Truth About Hillary (Sentinel, June 2005), but of a coordinated effort by Clinton and news organizations to downplay his book. But while Klein complains about canceled television bookings, he recently canceled one of his own, reportedly to avoid tough questioning.

On the June 27 edition of CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight, for example, Klein blamed “the Clintons” for preventing him from being on television:

DOBBS: Well, a number of networks and broadcasts have canceled your show. We thank you for being here. When do you appear again on television?

KLEIN: Well, whenever the Clintons stop preventing me from appearing, since they've done a full-court press with ABC, CBS, and NBC to keep me off.

The same day, the Richard Mellon Scaife-funded NewsMax, an enthusiastic promoter of Klein's book, made a similar claim. The NewsMax article asserted that "[s]everal shows apparently expressed a keen interest in booking Klein until pressure from the Hillary camp stopped them," suggesting it was “an unprecedented act of media censorship” and adding: “Even Richard Nixon as President didn't have the power Hillary Clinton seems to wield today over the mainstream media.”

But Regional News Network (RNN), a television network seen in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, reported June 27 that Klein pulled out of a scheduled interview at the last minute for fear of facing tough questions.