The Fox News Channel is getting support from its television brethren as it fights back against an ongoing assault from the Obama White House.
Thursday, CNN, NBC/MSNBC, ABC and CBS all refused to go along with an attempt to toss Fox from a media pool that was supposed to conduct interviews with White House pay czar Kenneth Feinberg, who was unveiling restrictions on pay for executives of companies that accepted bailout money from the government.
Under an arrangement designed to save the networks money, a crew from one network shoots some White House events for all five outlets. The pool camera was supposed to shoot each network’s separate interview with Feinberg, but the networks were notified that Fox, which has been part of the pool arrangement since 1997, would not be allowed to question him.
The Obama administration relented after the other networks, in a gesture of solidarity, said they would take a pass on interviewing Feinberg if Fox was kept out of the mix. (Ironically, the effort to block Fox from covering what was arguably Thursday’s biggest news event came just a day after White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said decisions on who would be included in pools would be left to the media organizations, not his office.)
Wednesday, President Obama himself was drawn into the fray in an interview with NBC, when he was peppered with questions about criticism of Fox from White House officials. But far from distancing himself from the verbal jihad his aides have unleashed on Fox, the president dismissed Fox as “talk radio” and said “we are going to take media as it comes.”
Tuesday, Gibbs was grilled at the White House briefing by ABC correspondent Jake Tapper, who took issue with what he said was “a pretty sweeping declaration” by White House officials that Fox was not a bona fide news organization.
When Gibbs responded with an allusion to conservative Fox commentators Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity, Tapper reported, “I'm not talking about their opinion programming or issues you have with certain reports. I'm talking about saying thousands of individuals who work for a media organization do not work for a news organization. Why is that appropriate for the White House to say?”
“That’s our opinion,” Gibbs replied.
However, the White House’s aversion to rubbing shoulders with those who mix opinion with news apparently depends on the nature of said opinion. Monday, Obama himself met with a group of left-leaning commentators that included MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow, who are at least as opinionated as the aforementioned Beck and Hannity.
White House aides have admitted that part of the reason for their campaign against Fox is to discourage other news organizations from taking their lead on stories from Fox. But far from driving a wider wedge between Fox and its competitors, the criticism appears to be prompting them to close ranks instead.
Comments
Yep, fox has been controlling the whole media for decades, and this is just more proof of it. The other networks need to get some balls rather than be dragged around by the network bully.
I'm thankful that other news organizations have come to the aid of fellow reporting organization and stand with them united against the perception in Barack Obama mind that he can control news sources and what we hear in the public arena.
Obama is showing more and more his communist tendencies to block news communications, he does not like.
We the American people have a right to hear all sides of the discussions, about what is going on in the world. I for one will never accept listening to conversation presented only by the sources, Obama desires to use.
Propaganda is easily formulated and broadcast by those media sources, believing they must do as Obama says, to be heard. This is not the way we do things in America but Obama believe it is. Obama needs to be impartial in the area of reporting good or bad for his administration.
We Americans will have it no other way.
Fox has been controlling the media for "decades"? That's odd, since they haven't been on the air for decades. Regardless, it is not up to the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government to oversee the Press. Which is why the Bush Administration had to tolerate MSNBC and the Obama Administration will have to tolerate Fox News. It's one of the ways our founding fathers balanced power with accountability, and while it may not be much fun for our Presidents, it sure is healthy for our democracy.
Fox news Is and should be renamed Fox Fools
Fox News started broadcasting in 1996, almost 16 years after CNN. I don't understand why we are so afraid of differing opinions. If something is going on, we have the right to know. I would rather hear 2 versions and then follow the trail and find the truth, than just hear one voice and have to take peoples word for it. My goal is that the truth comes out, no matter who is telling it. In the past we have been told a lot of things that were supposedly "truths" only to find out different later on. It is our fault if we get the wool pulled over our eyes because we just take people words on everything. In addition, it is our responsibility to find out the truth for ourselves. Listen to both sides objectively and then determine for yourselves what the real truth is. Jesus, Ghandi, Martin Luther King Jr, all were "silenced", did it stop their messages?
Is it just me, or are liberals just full of hate? Not to mention, give me 3-5 examples of why FOX is not a real news organization.
Crickets...
Fox News started broadcasting in 1996, almost 16 years after CNN. I don't understand why we are so afraid of differing opinions. If something is going on, we have the right to know. I would rather hear 2 versions and then follow the trail and find the truth, than just hear one voice and have to take peoples word for it. My goal is that the truth comes out, no matter who is telling it. In the past we have been told a lot of things that were supposedly "truths" only to find out different later on. It is our fault if we get the wool pulled over our eyes because we just take people words on everything. In addition, it is our responsibility to find out the truth for ourselves. Listen to both sides objectively and then determine for yourselves what the real truth is. Jesus, Ghandi, Martin Luther King Jr, all were "silenced", did it stop their messages?
The MSM closed ranks with FOX NEWS only for self-serving reasons. None in the MSM wants to be the next to get the shaft. Indeed, a Pew Research Center study of the 2008 general election showed that the MSM is a mouthpiece for Obama.
That study (link below) showed that:
MSNBC's coverage of Obama during the general election was 14% negative & 43% positive. Their coverage of McCain was a whopping 73% negative & ONLY 10% positive. No wonder Obama grants them the access that he does. FOX NEWS coverage of Obama during the general election was 40% negative and 25% positive. Their coverage of McCain was 40% negative and 22% positive. MSNBC was 5X as negative in their coverage of McCain and 4X more positive towards Obama. Fox News was equally negative for both & was actually MORE positive towards Obama.
The MSM's overall coverage of Obama was 29% negative & 36% positive. Their coverage of McCain was a whopping 57% negative & ONLY 14% positive.
h t t p://www.journalism.org/node/1343
Continued...
That Pew Research Center study that I gave a link to below shows that the MSM is a indeed a mouthpiece for Obama. They were 2X as negative in their overall coverage of McCain and 2.5X more positive in their overall coverage of Obama.
Obama knows that the MSM is his mouthpiece, and he wants it to stay that way. He does not want the MSM to report on the info that FOX NEWS digs up. That is why he attacks Fox News and lies about them. Mindless liberals lie about Fox News and attack Fox for pretty much the same reasons. They make up excuses for the MSM, but their excuses are bogus.
Oops.
www.journalism.org/13436
For some reason the last digit was left off. Still had characters left...
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