Thread: Obama Team Continues Effort to Isolate Fox News

Obama Team Continues Effort to Isolate Fox News
Senior Obama administration officials took to the airwaves Sunday to accuse Fox News of pushing a particular point of view and not being a real news network.

FOXNews.com
Sunday, October 18, 2009

Senior Obama administration officials took to the airwaves Sunday to accuse Fox News of pushing a particular point of view, one week after the administration fired its initial salvo to try to isolate the news network by accusing it of being a GOP mouthpiece.

"A lot of their news programming, it's really not news. It's pushing a point of view," senior adviser David Axelrod said on ABC's "This Week."

"The way we -- the president looks at it and we look at it, is, it is not a news organization so much as it has a perspective," White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel added on CNN's "State of the Union."

The open assault on Fox News began last weekend when White House Communications Director Anita Dunn accused the network of being a "wing of the Republican Party."

"What I think is fair to say about Fox -- and certainly it's the way we view it -- is that it really is more a wing of the Republican Party," Dunn said on CNN. "They take their talking points, put them on the air; take their opposition research, put them on the air. And that's fine. But let's not pretend they're a news network the way CNN is."

Despite calls to the White House this week, the administration did not offer a guest for this weekend's "Fox News Sunday" to talk about Dunn's comments, although administration officials appeared on all four Sunday morning shows to speak on various issues.

President Obama has had interviews with all of the other Sunday talk shows except "Fox News Sunday," including a whirlwind weekend in late September where he appeared on all other Sunday talk shows.

Michael Clemente, Fox News' senior vice president of news, said the administration's strategy appears to be misdirected.

"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," Clemente said in a written statement.

Former Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove said Fox News' commentators have been tough on Obama but the White House appears to be confusing the news and opinion that appears on the network.

"They're conflating the news side and the opinion side in order to -- in order to attack a media outlet. Again, it's undignified for the president of the United States to be doing" Rove said on "Fox News Sunday." He added that it is the administration's practice to attack its critics full-throttle.

"I think this White House is dominated by Chicago- style politics, so if you don't like the questions that are being asked by Major Garrett or Wendell Goler or Chris Wallace, then you try and demonize Fox News," he said.

Though Fox News has won the cable news ratings race consistently for years and is closing in on network news numbers, Axelrod and Emanuel both encouraged other news outlets to not treat Fox News as a news organization.

"The bigger thing is that other news organizations, like yours, ought not to treat them that way, and we're not going to treat them that way." Axelrod told ABC.

Axelrod was quick to point out that though the White House views Fox News as biased, the administration would continue to interact with Fox News. "We're going to appear on their shows. We're going to participate, but understanding that they represent a point of view."

"President Obama's going to talk to all the networks," said former Clinton adviser and administration confidant Terry McAuliffe, who appeared with Rove on Fox News. "He's going to go out there. He loves competition. He loves being engaged in the battle."




http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/10 ... -fox-news/

Fox 'not really news,' says Axelrod

By MIKE ALLEN | 10/18/09 9:22 AM EDT

LinkedIn Video - watch here: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28417.html

POLITICO 44
White House senior adviser David Axelrod said Sunday that the Fox News Channel is "not really a news station" and that much of the programming is "not really news."


"I’m not concerned," Axelrod said on ABC's "This Week" when George Stephanopoulos asked about the back-and-forth between the White House and Fox News.


"Mr. [Rupert] Murdoch has a talent for making money, and I understand that their programming is geared toward making money. The only argument [White House communications director] Anita [Dunn] was making is that they’re not really a news station if you watch even — it’s not just their commentators, but a lot of their news programming.


"It’s really not news — it’s pushing a point of view. And the bigger thing is that other news organizations like yours ought not to treat them that way, and we’re not going to treat them that way. We’re going to appear on their shows. We’re going to participate but understanding that they represent a point of view.â€

Can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen...

. " But let's not pretend they're a news network the way CNN is."

said Dunn.


FOX reports all the news, but CNN picks and chooses what to broadcast and leaves out a large portion of important news. CNN seems to feel its more important to know what is going on in Hollywood than what goes on around the country or around the world.

Aw, they're just upset that no one at Fox gets a tingle in their leg. Truthfully, I find this extremely amusing. After all, isn't ABC known as the All Barrack Channel?

ReggieMay, more likely they get nauseous at the sound of his voice, I know I do.

Even my kids (a 16 year old boy and 12 year old daughter) have asked on the umpteen times he has been on TV speaking (well at least we know he CAN speak, what a well trained socialist he is!!LOL....), "when is he going to be at the White House doing his job, the one he was voted in for, instead of speaking?".

See, and we watch Fox news, almost exclusively, and every time there is Obama speaking, they show it, so they obviously are not that biased, since they will show his lying face on their network.

I say, so what!!!!!!!!!!!! Because it is an opionion show, it should be left alone. Is the president trying to say he dosn't respect freedom of speech and opinion? And so what IF if was the mouthpeice of the Republican party. They have all of the other news outlets mouthpeicing for them. This guy makes me sick. I sure wish we could get him out of office. We can't afford another month of this guy let alone an other 3 years.

Originally Posted by agrneydgrl

I say, so what!!!!!!!!!!!! Because it is an opionion show, it should be left alone. Is the president trying to say he dosn't respect freedom of speech and opinion? And so what IF if was the mouthpeice of the Republican party. They have all of the other news outlets mouthpeicing for them. This guy makes me sick. I sure wish we could get him out of office. We can't afford another month of this guy let alone an other 3 years.

It is going to be a full time job to keep him from totally destroying this country!!!

Alinsky tactics...isolate and criticize. We don't have a President, we have a marxist ideologue.

Boy, if this doesn't tell you the current administration is full of a bunch of high school kids, I don't know what will.

They will continue to appear on Fox? I haven't noticed. Am I missing something? These guys are such jerks it makes me nervous. I think Fox should turn up the heat. Given what I've seen so far it would not be hard to "out" the whole bunch of them. They are like the criminal that is so arrogant he thinks he can't be caught. Chicago politics or not, they can be nabbed just like most of the mob and the rest of the jerks that have run Chicago.