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Obama stands by Fox News attacks
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During an interview Monday, October 19, with NBC correspondent Savannah Guthrie, President Obama defended recent comments made by White House officials attacking Fox News, saying he "isn't losing a lot of sleep" over the issue.
When asked by Guthrie, "Do you think it's appropriate for the White House to say what is and is not a news organization?", Obama answered, "I think the American people are a lot more interested in what we're doing to create jobs" -- to which Guthrie countered, "Fair enough. But your advisors raised this issue."
This interview comes on the heels of a week of controversial statements released by the Obama administration concerning Fox News. On October 18, White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel said that,
"[Fox News] is not a news organization so much as it has a perspective."
Emanuel added that he,
"[does not want] the CNNs and the others in the world [to] basically be led in following Fox."
The real controversy, however, came with comments made by Obama senior advisor David Axelrod, who told ABC's George Stephanopoulos,
"[Fox is] not a news organization.... Other news organizations like your's ought not to treat them that way. We're not going to treat them that way."
Many have since questioned the White House's decision to publicly defame a news network for highlighting presidential criticism, comparing the tactic to similar strategies used during the Nixon administration.
In August, during an interview with "Fox News Sunday", host Chris Wallace fact-checked controversial claims made by assistant secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Tammy Duckworth. Since then, the White House has not offered any interviews to the show. White House communications director Anita Dunn said fact-checking an administration official was "something I've never seen a Sunday show do." As Wallace responded,
"She criticized 'Fox News Sunday' last week for fact-checking -- fact-checking -- an administration official. They didn't say that our fact-checking was wrong. They just said that we had dared to fact-check."
With the President standing behind the Fox News attacks, debates intensify as American citizens question the appropriateness of White House media intimidation and worry about future implications for their freedom of speech.
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