White House vs. Fox News

[valanhb]

In the past couple of weeks on the weekend news shows the White House Officials have really stepped up their attacks on Fox News.

The White House has not made any official available to Fox for interviews since August when Chris Wallace, the Fox News Sunday host, fact-checked *gasp* a White House official who had been a guest on their show. Even before that, Obama refused to make an official available during the stimulus debates to Neil Cavuto, who has hosted the afternoon financial show on Fox News, and is a major host on Fox Business because "it's not a financial show". Yes, Neil had been critical of some decisions made by Obama Administration, but he had also been quite critical of decisions made by the Bush Administration.

Now they are saying that Fox is a "wing of the Republican Party", and "not a real news network" as well as encouraging other networks not to treat Fox as a real news network, since President Obama and the White House won't treat them as such.

Obama Team Continues Effort to Isolate Fox News
White House Urges Other Networks to Disregard Fox News

Funny, I thought the media was supposed to fact check government officials and hold their feet to the fire to get to the heart of the matter and not just be a puppet and mouthpiece of the government. Seriously, can you imagine the backlash if Bush had said that MSNBC wasn't a "real news network" because of the criticism of him on their opinion shows?

I just don't quite understand their motives here, beyond the selfish aspect of silencing the dissention. Are they going to continue this in 2012 when Obama's up for re-election? Or will they cave when they see that Fox has a large share of the viewing audience and realize that they won't be able to "control the media," in the words of WH Communications Director Anita Dunn, if they don't consider Fox a legitimate news source for the droning masses?

Even though I disagree with the commentators on MSNBC, I would have been quite upset if Bush had attempted to silence them as a news organization during his presidency. The First Amendment is there for a reason, and this is precisely the reason! We have recognized that state-controlled media is a bad thing for many years. Well, since the Founding Fathers penned and signed the Constitution. It seems that the Obama White House is straight up trying to eliminate the largest source of disagreement in the media, and that bothers me a lot. I believe most of them had to be sworn into office, which means that they swore to uphold the Constitution of the United States.

Thoughts?

[Essayons89]

Has there been an administration and Congress that handles criticism as poorly as they do? Grow up. If you don't have thick skin to deflect the barbs you shouldn't be in such a dirty game as politics to begin with.

Why do they feel a need to "control the media"? If anyone needs to be "controlled" in this country it's the politicians.

[2dogmom]

I think there are some legitimate and hard hitting journalists who work for FOX and who have a conservative bent, which is fine. They uncovered some things about ACORN for example that needed to see the light of day.

However, FOX also is a haven for people like Glenn Beck, and things like this IMO go well beyond what any network should be doing.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,535942,00.html

[ckblv]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMe5d...layer_embedded

Be afraid, be VERY afraid. I truly believe if allowed to keep on, Barack Hussein Obama is going to bring this country down.

The United Nations Climate Change Treaty
If this treaty is signed by Barack (and it will be) in Copenhagen in December, he will sign our freedom away. It will supersede our Constitution. We will no longer be governed under our Constitution. We will be required to pay off our "climate debt" to third world countries. We will be subject to the whim of the United Nation's.


I have never seen a President who acts like this man. Who ever thought the White House in the United States of America would have a freaking website devoted to dissing a News Channel that criticized them?
I have said it before and I will say it again, Barack Obama is nothing but another Chicago thug. Except this Chicago thug made it to the White House.

13.3% unemployment in Nevada, 13.9% unemployment in Las Vegas. Predicted to hit 15% unemployment in a few months. But truth be told, the economy is the least of our worries right now as Barack gets ready to give our countries sovereignty away. All in the same of "social change" you know.

God help us all

[ckblv]

Originally Posted by 2dogmom

I think there are some legitimate and hard hitting journalists who work for FOX and who have a conservative bent, which is fine. They uncovered some things about ACORN for example that needed to see the light of day.

However, FOX also is a haven for people like Glenn Beck, and things like this IMO go well beyond what any network should be doing.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,535942,00.html

And what, pray tell, is wrong with being a "Constitutional Watchdog?" God knows our politicians are not guarding the constitution. And many on the Left say, "The Constitution in Outdated", blah blah blah

[valanhb]

Originally Posted by 2dogmom

I think there are some legitimate and hard hitting journalists who work for FOX and who have a conservative bent, which is fine. They uncovered some things about ACORN for example that needed to see the light of day.

However, FOX also is a haven for people like Glenn Beck, and things like this IMO go well beyond what any network should be doing.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,535942,00.html

Thank you for separating the Glen Becks from the hard news. That's really the point, IMO. Yes, Fox has conservative commentators doing opinion shows; but those aren't news. Just like the liberal/progressive commentator-based opinion shows on MSNBC don't negate the news on that channel.

I'll certainly grant you that Glen Beck is out there. He's much further out there than Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity. I don't watch Beck, and IF I read his column (that's a big IF) I take it with a giant helping of salt. Sometimes he has a well founded point, sometimes he's just out there. He's controversial, and that is a ratings draw whether we like it or not.

But I have to say that he hasn't said anything that isn't on par with what Keith Olbermann, and Chris Matthews have said on MSNBC, just the other side of the aisle. They are also controversial, particularly Olbermann, which is a ratings draw. Some of the things he said about Bush were horrid, just like some of the things Beck says about Obama are horrid. 6 one way, 1/2 dozen the other, IMO. It's all about the ratings.

[GoldenKitty45]

I would love to be able to watch the shows. I only get the scoop on the radio the next day about things. The sad fact is the White House doesn't want the truth to come out to the American public. Even if 1/2 of the things they say are true - our country is in deep deep trouble under Obama's plans.

We are losing our freedoms one by one and no one wanted to see or hear that back in the campaigns. We all will suffer for it.

Obama has not done any of the so called "promises" he talked about - instead he has hidden much more then the people think and is taking the country in the wrong direction.

When things came out about his top people in positions that were revealed - he has done nothing to remove them from office. His agenda is NOT what people thought it would be and it will get a heck of a lot worse in the next year.

[Skippymjp]

I can't help but to think that the whole situation is really quite funny.

[Telynn]

Personally I think a White House that tries to ruin and discredit the ONE news network that doesn't let them control the content (as Anita Dunn has stated they have done) is really kinda scary.

The other stations need to stop and take a long look at this. This is what will happen to you if you don't toe the line.

[2dogmom]

Just for the record I find Olbermann repugnant and offensive. Rachel Maddow too. I'm not familiar with Mathews. Yes I am left of center but I think there are limits and they cross a line. If they are getting high ratings it certainly isn't from me!

[mrblanche]

Has anyone seen Fox's "Redeye" with Greg Gutfeld?

Fox has an interesting mix of news and commentary. I don't like Beck, but I didn't like him on CNN, either.

But research has shown Fox has a pretty large liberal fan base.

[Telynn]

I predict that all this will just increase Fox's ratings. Because people here always want to do the opposite of what they are told, and they want to see what Fox is saying that the White House doesn't want you to hear.