It's not unusual for politicians and the journalists who cover them to have contentious relationships. It's not unusual for a cable network to criticize a president (see MSNBC and President George W. Bush). It's not even unusual for a White House administration to criticize the media.
Still, there has been much discussion this week about the back-and-forth between Fox News and the Obama administration.
Anita Dunn, White House communications director, explained the White House's concern with FOX News, telling media critic Howard Kurtz: "I think what is fair to say about Fox and certainly the way we view it is that it really is more a wing of the Republican Party." She went on to say that Fox is "not a news network," given how biased its reports have been.
Fox News has responded to the White House's claims. Bill O'Reilly said Tuesday that there is a difference between the cable news network's commentators and its news reporters. The network, he believes, has been fair to Obama.
"Conservative viewers hammer me and liberal viewers hammer me," O'Reilly said. "If I have been unfair to the president, I challenge you to demonstrate that."
Fox News senior vice president Michael Clemente expressed similar sentiments, saying that the network has been "self-serving" and unfair in its accusations. "It's astounding," he said, "the White House cannot distinguish between news and opinion programming."
For more on the back-and-forth, see these recent related Romenesko stories:
Boehlert: "The press needs to change the way it covers Fox News"
Media Matters
"Fox News has become a political institution, and the press needs to start treating it that way," writes Eric Boehlert. "The press needs to treat Fox News the same way it treats the Republican National Committee."
> Fox News denies sending "raising fears" e-mail to TV critic
Posted at 10:22 AM on Oct. 13, 2009
Why does the White House bother going after Fox?
New York | WashingtonPost.com
"Recognizing Fox as an enemy worth fighting is an admission of weakness for a president whose appeal has been partly predicated on the promise of unity," writes Chris Rovzar. "Glenn Beck, with his 3 million viewers, has been called a 'cultural phenomenon.' You know what? So is 'Glee,' a show with well more than twice that many viewers." || Howard Kurtz: "The question I would raise is whether the president would benefit by engaging with Fox's audience."
Posted at 5:15 PM on Oct. 12, 2009
WH's Dunn says Fox News is "opinion journalism masquerading as news"
Time.com
"They are boosting their audience. But that doesn't mean we are going to sit back," says White House communications director Anita Dunn. "We have to be more aggressive rather than just sit back and defend ourselves." Anti-Obama pundits, she says, "will take any small thing and distort it."
Posted at 10:54 AM on Oct. 8, 2009
Report: WH adviser Axelrod met with Fox News' Ailes
Politico.com | Time.com
David Axelrod and Roger Ailes got together two weeks ago and talked about news coverage and the relationship between the White House and Fox News, reports Mike Allen. || Related post.
Silva: WH "Reality Check" ought to get Fox News' attention
ChicagoTribune.com | WhiteHouse.gov
The Obama administration's direct rebuttal of what Glenn Beck said about the Olympics bid "may seem like a footnote," writes Mark Silva, "but it's emblematic of something bigger: An administration's refusal to play ball with a widely watched cable news network which it views as slanted translating into an administration's willingness to challenge the network's fast and loose foot-play with the facts -- or, more specifically, Glenn Beck's carelessness."
Posted at 10:48 AM on Oct. 1, 2009
Fox News exec: We'll cover Obama as objectively as we did Bush
New York Times
"Will we give this incoming administration a Greek chorus of exaltation? No, but that speaks more about the other networks than about us," says Fox News veep John Moody.
Posted at 7:31 AM on Jan. 19, 2009
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