I just saw a blurb on this but I thought it very interesting. Apparently, the Obama administration tried to freeze the Fox News reporter Major Garrett out of a news conference. The reporters from ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, etc. told the administration that, if Fox got excluded, they wouldn't attend either. The administration relented and allowed Fox into the meeting. Finally, the media is exhibiting some backbone in protecting its freedom.
Agree. Even the Baltimore Sun criticized the administration because of the inherent dangers in trying to muzzle the press.
I'm trying to find one. I was channel surfing and saw the blurb on Fox News. So far, I have only found the Baltimore Sun link (David Zurawik) at http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/zontv/
The Administration is collectively brain farting on this one...yes Fox is terribly skewed but it just looks silly if you confront them over it. For God's sakes, the POTUS and his staff should be above this. It's really giving the Obama Administration that Nixon/Lyndon B. Johnson feel.
it really is amazing to me what the administration is doing to fox news, seems like nixon-esque tactics. you get anita dunn on cnn (skip to 1:25) <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/lZLljiwCxdo&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/lZLljiwCxdo&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> complaining about stories that are over a year old. something called acorn? yeah, how'd that turn out? then, we find her praising mao... the guy who killed 30+ million. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/X2FVEe7wCzs&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/X2FVEe7wCzs&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> and axelrod and emanuel agree with dunn <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/z_n8fRtsKB0&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/z_n8fRtsKB0&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> is it that the white house doesn't like the bad press fox is digging up and subsequently the other news showing pick up on it? it seems like a bad idea to me because it's giving more credit and attention to fox. i don't see how this ends well for the white house.
They're not muzzling, they're criticizing. But I agree it's going too far. Question, do you honestly believe this is the only administration in history to get into a pissing contest with a media outlet? I'm sure you do so I'll go ahead and show you that it's nothing new: Flashback: The White House Criticizing News Networks Is Old Hat I haven't found jack sh** about the administration locking Garrett out of a press conference. I've been looking up the kook allstars like World Net Daily, Little Green Footballs, Drudge Report, etc and I see nothing. So tell us again where you saw this.
Nixon is infamous for creating an enemies list. History shows how successful that was. Regardless of what you think of Fox News, the administration is making serious mistakes because they are so sensitive to criticism or any form of dissent. BTW, when you exclude a news organization from access, you are definitely trying to muzzle that news organization and intimidate the others.
Fascinating. I think the media is doing its best to commit suicide. By the way, where was this outcry for the freedom of the press during W's years? Liberal media indeed... here's Greenwald, who writes well... On top of that, Bush's WH Press Secretaries routinely lobbed attacks at the NYTimes and NBC and CBS that were at best equivalent to what the Obama administration has said about FOX, but realistically, worse. when that happened, the networks being attacked offered no response, but you would think a purveyor of the 1st Amendment like FOX would jump all over the Bush WH for doing such things. Wrong. Fox cheered on the attacks on NBC (MSNBC) and the NYTimes. Now, it looks like the Stockholm Syndrome is in effect and those groups are for some reason supporting FOX, which is not a distortion of news and opinion, but of opinion and the truth. Another sad data point for the decline of the press. FYI, here are some more W press shenanigans that went unchallenged by the institutions they were aimed at...
Do you even know why the enemies list became infamous? Do you know what it implies? If you answered yes to either question, then there is now way you can get to "enemies list" from what the Obama administration is doing with FOX. Not even close.
I promise I am not delusional. I just saw another reference to it at the end of Fox News' 5 p.m. panel with Charles Krauthammer, Brett Baier, et al. They just haven't posted the replay yet on their net site.
The Administration's actions are analogous, if not similar, to Nixon's war with the Washington Post. Nixon went much farther afield, it's true, but Obama IMO is taking his first steps down the same paranoid path. Also, the Bush era is past. Let's worry about THIS president and his actions because that's all that counts in the here and now.
rim you can't criticize thumbs or others for not criticizing similar things before Obama, he has strictly forbidden it and we are not allowed to question whether this implies a double standard on his part. BTW, checking FOX News's website, checking the opinion section, and checking Fox Nation as well. Still not seeing this, guess I'll have to wait another day for it to hit the slow moving after the fact world of the internet.
BS. Explain to me how saying FOX is a political arm of the GOP is anywhere close to having the IRS harass journalists and politicians of the opposing party? Please describe how pointing out that FOX is opposed to the Obama administartion is the same as having the Justice Department investigate people? Show me the Obama memo that says: Show me, please show me, how the comments made by the Obama administration about FOX compare to that memo and this list... Saying Obama has an enemies list is either deliberate propaganda or almost absolute ignorance of recent history. And just because Hannity and other wingnuts may say it, it doesn't make it so. And yes, we have to concern ourselves with what happened during the previous administration. Your statement is the epitome of willful ignorance.
Rimrocker, we are going far afield from my observation. I don't care whether the administration makes allegations that Fox is affiliated with the GOP any more than MSNBC is affiliated with the Democratic Party. It is the step of trying to exclude a news organization from covering an event that is germane. My surprise and joy stems from the other networks finally closing ranks to prevent encroachment on the basic freedom of the press. In this discussion, at least, I don't really care about what the Bush Administration did or didn't do or what the Nixon Administration did or didn't do.
