White House urges Media to unite against Fox

[GabonX]

The White House is calling on other news organizations to isolate and alienate Fox News as it sends out top advisers to rail against the cable channel as a Republican Party mouthpiece.

Top political strategists question the decision by the Obama administration to escalate its offensive against Fox News. And as of Monday, the four other major television networks had not given any indication that they intend to sever their ties with Fox News.

But several top White House officials have taken aim at Fox News since communications director Anita Dunn branded Fox "opinion journalism masquerading as news" in an interview last Sunday.

White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel told CNN on Sunday that President Obama does not want "the CNNs and the others in the world [to] basically be led in following Fox."

Obama senior adviser David Axelrod went further by calling on media outlets to join the administration in declaring that Fox is "not a news organization."

"Other news organizations like yours ought not to treat them that way," Axelrod counseled ABC's George Stephanopoulos. "We're not going to treat them that way."

Asked Monday about another Axelrod claim that Fox News is just trying to make money, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said that while all media companies fall under that description, "I would say sometimes programming can be tilted toward accentuating those profits."

But by urging other news outlets to side with the administration, Obama officials dramatically upped the ante in the war of words that began earlier this month with Dunn's comments.

So far, none of the four other major networks has given any indication that they wish to disinvite Fox News from the White House pool -- the rotation through which the networks share the costs and duties of White House coverage and the most significant interaction among the news channels.

The White House stopped providing guests to "Fox News Sunday" after host Chris Wallace fact-checked controversial assertions made by Tammy Duckworth, assistant secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, in August.

Dunn said fact-checking an administration official was "something I've never seen a Sunday show do."

"She criticized 'Fox News Sunday' last week for fact-checking -- fact-checking -- an administration official," Wallace said Sunday. "They didn't say that our fact-checking was wrong. They just said that we had dared to fact-check."

"Let's fact-check Anita Dunn, because last Sunday she said that Fox ignores Republican scandals, and she specifically mentioned the scandal involving Nevada senator John Ensign," Wallace added. "A number of Fox News shows have run stories about Senator Ensign. Anita Dunn's facts were just plain wrong."

Fox News senior vice president Michael Clemente said: "Surprisingly, the White House continues to declare war on a news organization instead of focusing on the critical issues that Americans are concerned about like jobs, health care and two wars. The door remains open and we welcome a discussion about the facts behind the issues."

Observers on both sides of the political aisle questioned the White House's decision to continue waging war on a news organization, saying the move carried significant political risks.

Democratic strategist Donna Brazile said on CNN: "I don't always agree with the White House. And on this one here I would disagree."

David Gergen, who has worked for Democratic and Republican presidents, said: "I totally agree with Donna Brazile." Gergen added that White House officials have "gotten themselves into a fight they don't necessarily want to be in. I don't think it's in their best interest."

"The faster they can get this behind them, the more they can treat Fox like one other organization, the easier they can get back to governing, and then put some people out on Fox," Gergen said on CNN. "I mean, for goodness sakes, you know, you engage in the debate.

"What Americans want is a robust competition of ideas, and they ought to be willing to go out there and mix it up with some strong conservatives on Fox, just as there are strong conservatives on CNN like Bill Bennett."

Bennett expressed outrage that Dunn told an audience of high school students this year that Mao Zedong, the founder of communist China, was one of "my favorite political philosophers."

"Having the spokesman do this, attack Fox, who says that Mao Zedong is one of the most influential figures in her life, was not...a small thing; it's a big thing," Bennett said on CNN. "When she stands up, in a speech to high school kids, says she's deeply influenced by Mao Zedong, that -- I mean, that is crazy."

Fox News contributor Karl Rove, who was the top political strategist to former President George W. Bush, said: "This is an administration that's getting very arrogant and slippery in its dealings with people. And if you dare to oppose them, they're going to come hard at you and they're going to cut your legs off."

"This is a White House engaging in its own version of the media enemies list. And it's unhelpful for the country and undignified for the president of the United States to so do," Rove added. "That is over- the-top language. We heard that before from Richard Nixon."

Media columnist David Carr of The New York Times warned that the White House war on Fox "may present a genuine problem for Mr. Obama, who took great pains during the campaign to depict himself as being above the fray of over-heated partisan squabbling."

"While there is undoubtedly a visceral thrill in finally setting out after your antagonists, the history of administrations that have successfully taken on the media and won is shorter than this sentence," Carr wrote over the weekend. "So far, the only winner in this latest dispute seems to be Fox News. Ratings are up 20 percent this year."

He added: "The administration, by deploying official resources against a troublesome media organization, seems to have brought a knife to a gunfight."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/10 ... 925819282/

[jay_a2j]

This would be LOL funny.



If it weren't WTH scary.



I don't recall any other president in recent history (or ever) who seems like they wanted to shut down an opposing view in the media.


A little at a time folks.....

Patriot Act

Government control of banks, car companies, etc.

Government controlled health care


Soon we will be Russia if we're lucky and China if we aren't.

[BigBallinStalin]

Aw, shucks, guy, leave Fox News alone.

Didn't they bring this upon themselves? If a news agency starts calling the president a communist without any real evidence, then that news agency really needs to reevaulate itself. I think they've even compared him to Stalin, Hitler, and maybe even Mao. It's ridiculous, and now they bitch and complain about the White House shifting gears on them.

Besides, it's not like the mass media isn't largely influenced by the government anyway. Look at the situation before and during the Iraq Gulf War II. None of these agencies did any credible fact-checking against the Pentagon/Bush administration's rubbish; they simply regurgiated it, just puking it all over the American people. Even during the war, aside from the closely monitored and partially censored material from the embedded journalists, the Pentagon would just brief the news agencies and that's that. If any news agency would do something counter to their wishes, then the Pentagon would threaten to cut it out off the circle of already limited information; thus, that rogue news agency would be out of the circle and suffer a major loss in viewers and money.

The mass media seems to mainly be a circus mainshow, as it were. It's everywhere, and it's main goal is to make money. Whatever drives up attention, regardless of how narrow-minded, unethical, and completely wrong the material is, doesn't really seem to matter anymore. But, that just seems to be how it is.

One less rubbish machine, and a few more to go. Let's bring to fruition the Pentagon Broadcasting Service or the OMGIOT (Ahm-Gee-ott) a.k.a OMG It's OBAMA TIME!! news agencies. Then we'd have something to really complain about.

[Hatchman]

Fox News is a joke. It's pretty obvious. They don't even try to be "fair and balanced". It's a potentially dangerous propaganda machine.

Thankfully Jon Stewart is around to point this out regularly.

[Skittles!]

Government control of banks, car companies, etc.
Government controlled health care


Soon we will be Russia if we're lucky and China if we aren't.

Australia has these two things (except for car companies). Pretty sure we're not like the Soviet Union or at all like China.

Maybe if you weren't so paranoid, and actually looked at facts, you wouldn't make shit assumptions.

[BigBallinStalin]

Government control of banks, car companies, etc.
Government controlled health care


Soon we will be Russia if we're lucky and China if we aren't.

Australia has these two things (except for car companies). Pretty sure we're not like the Soviet Union or at all like China.

Maybe if you weren't so paranoid, and actually looked at facts, you wouldn't make shit assumptions.

Australia is completely like Russia and China combined.

[thegreekdog]

I read an article recently (don't have the link, sorry) where a group watched election coverage during the last presidential election on Fox, MSNBC, and CNN. They determined that Fox was, in fact, the most balanced relative to negative coverage on both candidates. Fox apparently ran about negative stories about each candidate 40% of the time. CNN was at almost 60% negative stories for John McCain, while MSNBC was well over 60%.

Now, I understand that McCain was the spawn of the devil and President Obama was the greatest political figure in the history of the universe, so if these percentages are, in fact, true, it's clear that Fox is biased.

[thegreekdog]

Fox News is a joke. It's pretty obvious. They don't even try to be "fair and balanced". It's a potentially dangerous propaganda machine.

Thankfully Jon Stewart is around to point this out regularly.

Yes, good thing Mr. Stewart is around to give his unbiased opinion.

[Timminz]

The humour of using a FauxNews article to point out just how persecuted the poor network is, is not lost on me.

Well done.

[Neoteny]

lol

[Frigidus]

Geez, cable news is like a reality TV show...so much drama. Every network is either composed almost entirely of extremists or shows YouTube videos and Twitter comments..

[BigBallinStalin]

I read an article recently (don't have the link, sorry) where a group watched election coverage during the last presidential election on Fox, MSNBC, and CNN. They determined that Fox was, in fact, the most balanced relative to negative coverage on both candidates. Fox apparently ran about negative stories about each candidate 40% of the time. CNN was at almost 60% negative stories for John McCain, while MSNBC was well over 60%.

Now, I understand that McCain was the spawn of the devil and President Obama was the greatest political figure in the history of the universe, so if these percentages are, in fact, true, it's clear that Fox is biased.

That's interesting, but it's only one type of situation. Otherwise, they're abnormally biased as a baby born with one ass cheek.

[thegreekdog]

Otherwise, they're abnormally biased as a baby born with one ass cheek.

I have never heard that reference.

[Backglass]

Ahhh, I see my angry, paranoid conservative friends are still here...and still angry at their election loss!

Good to see ya Jay! Still praying Jesus will stop your drug addiction?

[Elijah S]

So - just for clarification - If someone's conservative they're automatically paranoid and a Jesus freak?
How dare Fox News have the "audacity" to be critical of Obama?! My God! Where do they get the nerve to actually voice their opinion?! How dare ANYONE put the illustrious Obama to the same criticisms that every other President has had to face?! Oh Nooooo! What's the world coming to?!

Just a couple things for you liberal children to ponder...
First of all... If ANY white candidate had attended a church - for over 20 years - that preached "white" seperatism and loyalty to their "European" Heritage, they would be drummed out of politics in short order. -But this doesn't apply to Obama, who only seperated himself from The "Reverend" Jeremiah Wright when it began to negatively affect his campaign.
Secondly... If the shade of his skin had been a couple shades lighter, Oprah would have never contibuted millions of dollars and used her media influence to help him become elected. -The notion that racism doesn't exist in minorities is something that's finally becoming dispelled. All you have to do is listen to Al Sharpton for about 3 minutes to realize that the real paranoid camp is in the liberal left.

The saddest thing is that you - yea you - the little white boys who wear their wannabe dreadlocks under a beanie and have your pants down to your knees because you think imitating gangstas is "sic" - will oneday reach maturity and realize that you can't get a job because you don't speak spanish, or have the support of the NAACP.

Way to go!

[Timminz]

..the little white boys who wear their wannabe dreadlocks under a beanie and have your pants down to your knees because you think imitating gangstas...

Excellent use of mixed stereotypes. Proud ignorance is a wonderful trait.

[Elijah S]

..the little white boys who wear their wannabe dreadlocks under a beanie and have your pants down to your knees because you think imitating gangstas...

Excellent use of mixed stereotypes. Proud ignorance is a wonderful trait.

Or - as in your case - blind ignorance is a wonderful trait...
Honest to God - is that the best you have to offer?

[spurgistan]

I read an article recently (don't have the link, sorry) where a group watched election coverage during the last presidential election on Fox, MSNBC, and CNN. They determined that Fox was, in fact, the most balanced relative to negative coverage on both candidates. Fox apparently ran about negative stories about each candidate 40% of the time. CNN was at almost 60% negative stories for John McCain, while MSNBC was well over 60%.

Now, I understand that McCain was the spawn of the devil and President Obama was the greatest political figure in the history of the universe, so if these percentages are, in fact, true, it's clear that Fox is biased.

I could actually see this as being true, if only because the McCain campaign was one of the more long-lasting train wrecks my short memory can recall. Amy Winehouse got nothin. It just amuses me a bit when people accuse the media of treating McCain unfairly, too. He was Obama before Obama was Obama.

The distinction I would make between Fox News and a real news organization is the separation between editorial and news gathering. The Wall Street Journal has as much a fringe editorial page as Fox (and guess who owns it?) But you would never tell by looking at the front page - it's a first-class news collection agency. Fox (as well as most 24-hour cable news) has succeeded in merging the editorial functions and news functions. It'd be impressive if it wasn't so nauseating.

On a side note - how many former Democratic congressmen get hosting gigs on Fox?

Disjointy post. But I stand behind all of it.

[bedub1]

I think we need to unite against the other media outlets. Fox is definately neutral, and they are so far over to the left that they think fox is right, not center. They are in fact so far left, they can't even see the right, they can't see past center. It has to do with the curvature of the bias that occurs over long distances...

[Frigidus]

I think we need to unite against the other media outlets.

I agree, all of these media mouthpieces are...oh, wait, what's he saying now?

Fox is definately neutral

Ugh...urp, urk! Oh...I just threw up in my mouth a little. No, no I don't think we see eye to eye at all.

It has to do with the curvature of the bias that occurs over long distances...

???

[Snorri1234]

It has to do with the curvature of the bias that occurs over long distances...

???

I guess he's saying Obama can't see the Fox News headquarters from his house?

[bedub1]

If you are democrat, then all the news outlets seem neutral except fox.
If you are republican, then all the news outlets seems biased except fox.
If you aren't a jackass, then you realize fox is biased towards the right and all the other news outlets are biased towards the left.
If you are the president, you should nut up and answer the tough questions and quite whining like a little bitch because some people don't like you....

[Timminz]

..the little white boys who wear their wannabe dreadlocks under a beanie and have your pants down to your knees because you think imitating gangstas...

Excellent use of mixed stereotypes. Proud ignorance is a wonderful trait.

Or - as in your case - blind ignorance is a wonderful trait...
Honest to God - is that the best you have to offer?

Not the best I have to offer. Simply the only point I was trying to make. You're an ignorant moron, who bases your opinions of people on retarded stereotypes. You have invalidated your opinion on the matter by showing that it is an uneducated one.

[Burrito]

You guys are arguing about whether or not Fox is biased or not, yet none of you seem to give a shit about that fact that the federal government is attempting to shut down/discredit a news agency. I am pretty certain that that violates the first amendment, and is way overstepping the federal governments reasons for existence as set out in the Constitution.

[Neoteny]

You guys are arguing about whether or not Fox is biased or not, yet none of you seem to give a shit about that fact that the federal government is attempting to shut down/discredit a news agency. I am pretty certain that that violates the first amendment, and is way overstepping the federal governments reasons for existence as set out in the Constitution.

Shut down, perhaps. Discrediting, not so much.