A post by Maynard
You’re aware of the White House war on FOXNews.
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.
…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.”
By urging other news outlets to side with the administration, Obama officials dramatically upped the ante in the war of words…
Americans should realize that the Administration’s behavior is seriously inappropriate.
Here’s how it works with the White House Press Corps: The pool of reporters with access to certain events and information is limited. Since everyone can’t fit in everywhere, the various news representatives generally rotate and share with each other. The Administration is now demanding that one of their number be blackballed. If everyone else plays along, then FOX ends up shut out of the news gathering process.
This isn’t the way we do things in America. The press is expected to challenge power. Will the nation be served if only the sycophants gain access to firsthand information?
This is a test of Obama’s supporters. Will they stand with the president when he’s gone badly wrong, or will they stand up for what’s right? (And of course the rest of the Press Corps should be aware that what is done to FOX today will be done to the next naughty boy tomorrow.)
On Tuesday, Jake Tapper, White House correspondent for ABC News, challenged White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs:
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. Can you explain why it’s appropriate for the White House to decide that a news organization is not one?
Gibbs: Jake, we render, we render an opinion based on some of their coverage and the fairness that, the fairness of that coverage.
Tapper: But that’s a pretty sweeping declaration that they are “not a news organization.” How are they any different from, say—
Gibbs: ABC—
Tapper: ABC. MSNBC. Univision. I mean how are they any different?
Gibbs: You and I should watch sometime around 9 o’clock tonight. Or 5 o’clock this afternoon.
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.
Look closely at what was said here. In proclaiming FOX “not a new organization”, Gibbs cited 5 o’clock and 9 o’clock — which are the (eastern) broadcast times of Beck and Hannity respectively.
As Mr. Tapper points out, Beck and Hannity are not “news” programs. They are opinion programs that focus on news. The distinction is a major one.
The White House is, by its own claim, trying to cut off FOX News from its direct news source because the FOX Network runs opinion shows that the White House would, for political reasons, like to see sidelined.
Did Bush ever do anything like this? George Bush was a punching bag for eight years, and he took it in stride, as an American president should. You remember the stink when Bush muttered privately (unaware that he was being recorded) to VP Cheney that Adam Clymer (a New York Times reporter) was “a major league a–hole”. Bush later apologized, sending the Press Club a videotape in which he saluted Clymer as “a major league, err, asset” to the Times.
America, do you see what’s going on here? The White House is attempting to coercively enforce political compliance on the press. I don’t need to editorialize, because the situation speaks for itself. What we’re getting from the Obama Administration is not the American way, and we must not accept it.
This is getting ridiculous. It’s difficult to believe that a grown man, who is also the POTUS, whined that FOX News didn’t want to play nice with him! And now, he’s got his buddies repeating his whine; as if that will make his complaint anymore justified [Nya, nya, nya.]. Maybe to Obama, he’s still a little kid on the school playground who just can’t believe that things don’t always go his way.
Obama should man-up, and go on FOX! After all, the people who watch FOX News are probably the ones he should be trying to convince of his policies. Instead of going to sing to the choir and feeding the man crushes of Jorge Ramos, Mr. Snufalufagus, and the others at the media outlets he has in his pocket!
eMVeeH got it exactly right! “he’s a little kid on the school playground…” THAT is the image that always comes to my mind whenever I see Urkel with these monster tyrants (Chavez, King (Prince?) of Saudi Arabia, etc). He thinks if he gives the bully his lunch money, the bully will be nice to him. But, by the third grade, most kids have already figured out that this does not work. Why hasn’t Urkel ? Hey, maybe that psychiatrist on CNN could explain this to us!
P.S. Remember when candidate Obama went on his overseas tour in July of 2008? Some broadcast news anchors were invited on the trip except Chris Wallace…of FOX News, of course.
Still, Obama couldn’t get away from the presence of the FOX News channel, especially when he visited the troops. He asked if the FOX news feed was a “hook-up.” Implying that the CIC decided which news outlet the troops were allowed to watch. He was duly informed that the troops can choose any broadcast they wished.
Rudy Giuliani was surprised that Obama was surprised that the troops would prefer FOX over other broadcasts. Guiliani said, “If he has any understanding of how American troops think, it would be natural that a large percentage of them would watch Fox. … A very large percentage of them believe they get a better shake on Fox than some of the other networks, some of which I believe they think are anti-military.”
Yup! It’s pretty safe to say Obama’s had FOX in his sights a loooooong time. And now that he is president he’s flexing his anti-FOX muscle to what, hopefully will be in vain.
Obama-The-Man-Child and his administration are showing all of us just how weak they and their policy positions are by trying to isolate The Fox News Channel. Kudos to Jake Tapper of ABC News for challenging Obama and his quislings. As Chris Wallace basically said, “What a bunch of crybabies.” Obama and his administration are truly pathetic. Their weakness does nothing for our economy and emboldens our enemies abroad.
Not much attention has been paid to another exchange at the press briefing. This struck me as disturbingly sinister considering the WH swat team of Axlerod and Emanuel declared Fox illegitimate as a news organization and suggested Fox stories should be ignored.
RAW DATA: Transcript of Gibbs Discussing Fox News
There’s nothing explicitly wrong in what Gibbs said. It’s the context and the unspoken message.
The WH is acting more like Hugo Chavez everyday by demonizing the private sector and stifling opposition. This is a four alarm fire for the Fourth Estate. They react by roasting marshmallows.
In juxtaposition to the move by the Whitehouse, Palin has decided to go on Oprah. Perfect move from Palin to create a brilliant contrast to Obama’s ‘hunker down’ strategy. Intresting. Obama is creeping away from an adoring media and Palin is unafraid of going right into the teeth of a media that did everything in it’s power to destroy her and her family one year ago. Wow, what a statement!
Hmmm…very interesting point. Maybe with her appearance in Winfrey’s show, Sarah Palin will show the whiner in chief how it’s done.
Way back ,early in BarryBoise camapign they limited real press to let Ebony,Jet and other non-news magazines get on the press planes and left off important reporters.*
I noticed that my idiot brothers (biological brothers) got all of their news from Rachele Madcow.
They had no idea what I was talking about when I would quote some facts I had learned on FOX CABLE NEWS.
Why bother with researched information when you can get entertained by the Matthews Madcow Oberman (sic) hate machines
*Important reporters are those whom I SAY are important.
###
When I hear stuff like this, I feel like I woke up in Bizarro World, or some other alternate universe wher evil reigns supreme.
WTH is this guy thinking? I mean, the fact that they are so bold about it makes the paranoid side of me think that they would only be so bold if they knew that they would be around a long time and no one could do anything else about it.
Either that, or they are incredibly stupid.
I’m worried that it’s the former, rather than the latter. Stupid I can deal with.
A dictator in America?
YIKES!
I would like to hear how the Obama administration compares Glenn Beck to Keith Olberman, or Hannity to Chris Matthews, or Rush to Air Amerika.
if they think everyone who finds the contents of the white house malodorous only sources fox news and once they’re swimming with the fishes the rainbows and glittery hope unicorns will burst forth again…..
it’s also beyond insulting that they characterize the american people, adults, as vessels, empty unquestioning vessels that fox news can pour poison into at will- we’re zombies and believe everything we’re told! more projection- they themselves want those allegedly empty heads to be filled with the Hopey Changey- they’re the ones who do not want to be questioned. absolutely transparent. fox news happens to be the nail sticking up with the biggest audience- and hammer it down they must.
they are failing to see that THEY are the problem. everything is all f’d up, all they want to do is failing because THEY are all f’d up. obama is surrounded with enablers and enforcers whose business it is is not to function as the Executive Branch of the usa government but to enforce the compliance of the rest of the government and populous. the free press was rightly seen by the founders as one of the pillars of democracy- which is why dictators like chavez always go in and seize the papers and radio and tv stations. this to me is a gravely shocking situation- along with government attempts currently in motion to ‘ secure’ the internets and enforce ‘ diversity and fairness’. these things represent the core of our constitutional democracy. everything this administration has attempted to do revolves around dismantling any check to their power. we need those checks and balances or we have no democracy. might as well rip up the constitution now.
wasn’t his first interview on becoming president to Ebony?
This is reaching the point of dangerous and obviously tyrannical behavior. I think most people in this country have been recognizing for quite a long time that the Democrat Party has been on this Leftist (as opposed to classically liberal) path. I don’t relieve Republicans of responsibility for this either. This is what happens when they lose their principles and are completely unable to voice rational and logical debates. The inability to categorize what is happening in a historical manner and framework doesn’t help matters either. Tammy’s analysis of President Bush failing to build on Reagan Conservatism is spot on. Conservatives must begin to, when they have control, make big strides in reducing the size of government. If they would do that, thereby showing the public visible signs of the benefits of limited government, it would go a long way in convincing the public that even more reduction is beneficial. As Reagan used to say (and I paraphrase), “Government’s never volunatrily reduce themselves in size.” And when we have Republicans who can’t even hold to that idea simply because they’re politicians who continue to grow government to keep getting elected makes it that much more difficult.
[…] end with Maynard’s take (at tammybruce.com) on the White House’s war on Fox News, because he adds some […]