The Administration in power, with party control of both houses of Congress and a newly-minted supreme court justice on the bench has taken aim at one of the most prominent news organizations charged with the so-called “fourth estate” watchdog function over government.
So obviously, the other news organizations, network, cable, radio and the newly-minted blogosphere have circled the wagons, cried “censorship!” and defended their Foxy brethren and Susteren.
No?
“A White House attempt to delegitimize Fox News – which in past times would have drawn howls of censorship from the press corps – has instead been greeted by a collective shrug, reports the non-partisan Politico.
“We’re doing what we think is important to make sure news is covered as fairly as possible,” a White House official told POLITICO, noting how the recent ACORN scandal story started because Fox covered it “breathlessly for weeks on end.”
Not because a major nation-wide organization receiving hundreds of millions in tax dollars didn’t blink at supporting a purportedly depraved criminal enterprise bent on child prostitution and white slavery.
Politico continues with an analysis of Fox News’ legitimacy:
Fox denies its news coverage is slanted, and even White House aides say the network’s top correspondent there, Major Garrett, is a straight shooter. But in its non-news hours, Fox mixes in a steady diet of criticism of President Barack Obama by its prominent conservative commentators Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck. It’s a formula that works for Fox, with the highest ratings in cable news.
Others say the attacks only strengthen Fox.
“This is an effort in effect to quarantine Fox News and to discourage other media outlets from picking up on stories that originate here,” Fox Washington Bureau Chief Brit Hume said on “The O’Reilly Factor.” “My guess is it won’t work….Look at Glenn Beck, he’s having a field day with this.”
At least one prominent Washington journalist publicly embraced the White House’s anti-Fox crusade, Politico reports.
“By appearing on Fox, reporters validate its propaganda values and help to undermine the role of legitimate news organizations,” former Slate editor Jacob Weisberg wrote in Newsweek. “Respectable journalists—I’m talking to you Mara Liasson—should stop appearing on its programs.”
Liasson, a National Public Radio reporter who is a regular on Fox News’s “Special Report,” did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment.
On the other hand, the lone voice fighting for the press seems to be ABC’s Jake Tapper.
“It’s escaped none of our notice that the White House has decided in the last few weeks to declare one of our sister organizations “not a news organization” and to tell the rest of us not to treat them like a news organization,” Tapper confronted White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs. “Can you explain why it’s appropriate for the White House to decide that a news organization is not one.”
MediaMatters.org reported that Tapper seemed “completely baffled and quite insulted” by the administration’s stance toward Fox in Jake Tapper can’t figure out how Fox News is different from ABC News?
Of course, Media Matters is more interested in tearing down Conservative outlets like Fox. But what Eric Boehlert seems not to notice is Tapper’s lone stand against the Administration is focused more on who gets to define who is and isn’t a news outlet - a fundamental 1st amendment issue:
Tapper: 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?
Gibbs: That’s our opinion.
And the Administration’s opinion is also that other organizations should shun and discredit Fox News because the Administration doesn’t agree with those opinions - as stated recently by senior advisor David Axelrod and Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.
Tags: ABC News, Fox News, Jake Tapper, MediaMatters, Politico
