White House attempts to bar FOX from press pool

by smkovalinsky | October 23, 2009 at 07:08 am

308 views | 55 Recommendations | 27 comments

White House attempts to bar FOX News from Press Pool; forced to back down after Network chiefs rebuke the move:

FOX NEWS, a twelve year active member of the White House Pool, was to interview the Obama Pay Tsar; in a consortium of five Major TV news organizations, including CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS... VIDEO at aceHQ.
After Obama Administration tried to exclude FOX, Washington bureau Network chiefs met, and announced none of them would participate if Fox were excluded.

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Hugh Askew

at 07:37 on October 23rd, 2009

How stinkin' petty is this administration going to get?

Acting like a petulant child. My, my.

After Obama Administration tried to exclude FOX, Washington bureau Network chiefs met, and announced none of them would participate if Fox were excluded.

They showed some backbone! CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, thank you - for doing the right thing.

jefhow22

at 07:34 on October 23rd, 2009

This is getting way beyond petty...It sounds Illegal...and it stinks to high heaven of Communism!! Folks....we are in deep trouble!!!

Roy C

at 09:50 on October 23rd, 2009

Compliments to ABC, NBC, CBS, and CNN for refusing to be a part of it from me as well.

Principle! The only Rx for the spiritual disease known as "the culture of narcissism".

Rhonda J Mangus

at 09:53 on October 23rd, 2009

Thanks for this smk! I agree with Roy:)

albertacowpoke

at 10:22 on October 23rd, 2009

Karl agrees with Roy and Rhonda. Kudos to the press for showing their solidarity towards free speech and free press. Shame on the Administration.

merlingraycat

at 11:11 on October 23rd, 2009

What about freedom of the press doesn't the Aministration understand?

American Values on trial (not verified)

at 11:55 on October 23rd, 2009

I don't think anyone is trying to keep FOX from speaking freely... free speech is one thing, passing off pure lies as news is another.Will the comedy network now start getting access as well?

Rory Cripps

at 18:24 on October 23rd, 2009

American Values on trial (not verified):

Yes! FOX News is guilty of lies and nothing but damned lies! Everyone that works for FOX is a damned liar--right down to the light-bulb changer! No doubt about it! Indeed, President Obama his implied as much and what better proof than that does anyone need?

Roy C

at 12:42 on October 23rd, 2009

Slander is very funny when I remember to laugh. LOL. I just remembered!

politisite

at 13:14 on October 23rd, 2009

The other networks stood up for the 1st amendment, knowing that the same could happen to them. Kudos to the WH press corp

nanute

at 13:38 on October 23rd, 2009

News Flash: President Acting Like Third World Dictator, is deposed in a bloodless coup led by the Washington press corps, armed with pens, paper and cameramen. Free Speech, the 1st Amendment and the rule of law was re-established shortly thereafter. That is all. :)

Rory Cripps

at 17:38 on October 23rd, 2009

nanute: Isn't it wonderful to live in a country where members of the "press", via their rights under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, are allowed to "call" a wannabe third-world dictator on his BS without being dragged out in the dead of night and thrown in solitary confinement or worse? In light of Obama's public and unabashed announcement of the equivalent of an "enemies list", and his paranoid attempt to stifle all political opposition and, therefore, free speech, all of America and the rest of the free world should rejoice over the fact that freedom of the press has triumphed over those that would seek to destroy "free speech" for purely political and ideological motives. When all the facts come to light--and they will--in regard to how Obama and his band of ideologues are attempting to shred the U.S. Constitution to pieces and create a new nation in their own self image, there will be hell to pay.

Amy Judd

at 13:46 on October 23rd, 2009

Woah, freedom of press anyone?

nanute

at 14:45 on October 23rd, 2009

Freedom of the press is covered by the 1st Amendment.

Roy C

at 13:55 on October 23rd, 2009

What made Obama think that this one was going to fly? I know and I ain't even "the Shadow"!

smkovalinsky

at 14:00 on October 23rd, 2009

That is what is puzzling. Either Obama was pulling a "prank", or others are pulling the strings, and he simply doesn't care. Of course there are no grounds for excluding Fox, and even Chris Matthews has stated this. Obama is not dumb: There is something he is not saying, perhaps a whole lot he isn't saying...

Roy C

at 14:09 on October 23rd, 2009

Eventually, it becomes Time to See the Emperor Naked.

nanute

at 14:47 on October 23rd, 2009

I saw Bush with a codpiece. After that I had no desire to see him naked. He did seem to have the emperor thing down, though.

Rory Cripps

at 18:16 on October 23rd, 2009

nanute: Ah yes! It's all quite clear now! Bush (and perhaps Cheney too) as part of the perennial "shadow government" is manipulating Obama's puppet strings. Obviously, this is the reason why Obama, in spite of all his magic and "hope and change", is having a tough time winning the hearts and minds of all those ignorant rubes out there in "fly-over" country. It's a "vast right wing conspiracy"! No doubt about it! And if it were not for FOX News and the likes of Glen Beck and Rush Limbaugh, would there be any doubt that President Obama would have already set America down a permanent path towards "hope and change"!

nanute

at 02:36 on October 24th, 2009

You got all that out of my comment? Here's an excerpt from a piece by Jay Rosen on Bush and his opinion of the free press:
Bush to Press: "You're Assuming That You Represent the Public. I Don't Accept That." "In our system, the press has the role of..." Generations of journalists spoke confident sentences like that. The press is a vital check on power. It's quasi-Constitutional. Bush, head of government, rejects this idea. That theory has gone down, he says. And you guys don't have that kind of muscle anymore.

Mr. Bush managed to once more beguile the reporters with his Texas Churchillian rhetoric about America’s place in the world and his feelings about freedom. His non-answers hung in the air, blocking the vision and hearing like swarms of black flies, confusing and distracting the press, which seemed gaga and unable to bat them away. Mr. Bush, prepared, saw the questions coming. Everybody did. When he didn’t want to answer a question, he just moved to the next reporter, who generally felt honored to be called upon. —Joe Hagan, New York Observer, April 24, 2004

Here's another take from Eric Alterman at The Nation Magazine:

Make no mistake: The Bush Administration and its ideological allies are employing every means available to undermine journalists' ability to exercise their First Amendment function to hold power accountable. In fact, the Administration recognizes no such constitutional role for the press. White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card has insisted that the media "don't represent the public any more than other people do.... I don't believe you have a check-and-balance function."

Bush himself, on more than one occasion, has told reporters he does not read their work and prefers to live inside the information bubble blown by his loyal minions. Vice President Cheney feels free to kick the New York Times off his press plane, and John Ashcroft can refuse to speak with any print reporters during his Patriot-Act-a-palooza publicity tour, just to compliant local TV. As an unnamed Bush official told reporter Ron Suskind, "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality--judiciously, as you will--we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors...and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do." For those who didn't like it, another Bush adviser explained, "Let me clue you in. We don't care. You see, you're outnumbered two to one by folks in the big, wide middle of America, busy working people who don't read the New York Times or Washington Post or the LA Times." When the Bush/Cheney Administration wanted to get something out to the press, who do you think Karl Rove called?

I still say the Administration has the right to an opinion. I doesn't logically follow that it means I argree with the opinion.

smkovalinsky

at 14:18 on October 23rd, 2009

I don't think he will allow that. ;)

Roy C

at 14:52 on October 23rd, 2009

I thought he had better judgment than this, but now he reminds me of self-indulgent (intellectually) professors and teachers I have had who never called themselves on their inconsistencies and were in positions where no one else would call them on their inconsistencies, either.

To avoid major error, you must have at least one adviser who is not afraid to disagree with you and who tends to disagree with you enough to make you more than a little uncomfortable.

I don't see that here.

mudricky

at 14:37 on October 23rd, 2009

Is there any links or a story else where that will help me catch up on the back ground of this story, it's all you lot seem to be talking about lol.

a211423

at 14:55 on October 23rd, 2009

Who made the statement for the administration? I would like to know if this came from Obama, or if it was an over zealous staffer.

smkovalinsky

at 15:24 on October 23rd, 2009

Mudricky: There are so many links I cannot keep track of them all: If you Google, "White House versus Fox News" dozens of articles will pop up! It is supposedly a war in which Obama does not want this one station, FOX News as part of his press pool in the White House anymore!

A211423: I, too, thought it was only some overzealous staffers, until I saw both Robert Gibbs and President Obama on MSNBC (press clips) saying they would treat FOX as opinion, not news. :( ( can hardly blame them, ugh, I just saw Glenn Beck, cute and evil, ugh)

mudricky

at 23:20 on October 23rd, 2009

Thanks, will check it out.

cdickey (not verified)

at 02:25 on October 24th, 2009

Has anyone considered all the time spent talking about this news war is a diversion ? Instead of Obama sending in requested troops and supporting our our sons in Afganistan he has got the only news organization that will challenge him talking about freedom of the press. What is going on?