Fair and Balanced? Fox News Doth Protest Too Much
By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
I'm the first one to criticize the Obama administration when it does something untoward, or to disagree with any of its policies that I view as off the liberal deep end. But White House Communications Director Anita Dunn's comments about Fox News Channel are factually accurate, plain and simple. Fox News is nothing more than a Republican/conservative cheat sheet. Even Fox fans have the intellectual capacity to understand that concept. They wouldn't be watching if they weren't wingers (or liberals or moderates wishing to get clued in on how the right wing "thinks" if indeed it really does.)
Does Fox put liberals on its air to balance so-called debates on issues? Of course it does—how interesting would it be to watch two conservatives agree with each other? So why bother mounting a counterattack, as Fox executives have done, if the network were anything but what it is? It's befuddling.
The Associated Press reports,
White House unhappiness had been building. The president himself said there is "one television station that is entirely devoted to attacking my administration." Fox's coverage of health care demonstrations over the summer, former administration official Van Jones and the community activists ACORN clearly knocked the administration off stride.
I'm not sure I agree that the administration should be protesting Fox News' so-called investigative reports. But the "news" network designed by Republican partisan and consultant Roger Ailes has never been balanced—not since it placed good-looking, articulate Sean Hannity opposite slow-moving, er, odd-looking Alan Colmes and called it a "fair and balanced" program. C'mon, guys, only drooling carnivores could watch that show and think the two were equally matched in a TV shoot-'em-up.
So does Dunn have a right to knock Fox and restrict appearances on Fox by Obama administration officials? The Bush administration acted similarly toward news outlets it saw as unfriendly. Former House Speaker Tip O'Neill used to say, "If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog." As far as the Bush administration was concerned, Fox News was its dog and that same network is now trying to dog the president and pretend it's not. The network doth protest too much.
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Reader Comments
Fox
Why do I watch FOX?
I see more liberals on FOX than conservatives on NPR, NBC or CBS.
No one on FOX has ever "tingled" for any candidate. They brought people on who properly savaged George Bush for his spending and the idiotic nomination of Meirs. They criticize the GOP as out of touch with its members. They were onto Mike Nifong when US News didn't know who Nifong was. Sean Hannity, though a tad slow, is no where near as pretentious as TODAY's smugly assured news readers who are economic and historical illiterates.
When ABC, CBS or NPR refers to anyone right of the New york Times, they are tagged as "right-wing." But people left of center are never identified as "left-wing."
The LA Times recently ran an article by a "professor," praising ACORN--while omitting to note the writer was an ACORN advisor.
FOX reported the ACORN tapes, John Edwards' affair, the tea party protests, and white house staffers with bizarre associations, and the Duke lacrosse case while the "journalist" media was earnestly reporting palin's shopping habits and a 50th story on Michael Jackson's passing. ABC's Mr. Gibson had no idea what the ACORN tapes were. I think its a big deal that an orgainization like that is tied into federal agencies. Its an even bigger deal that most media does not.
The White House now is mad at FOX, as Nixon used to be mad at WaPo. I know what that means. I've been around long enough to relish--and value-- government discomfort at reporting.
Its no mystery why we watch FOX. It gives us what you and others prefer to ignore, downplay or even hide. If it fails to do so, I'll find another network. In the meantime, I respectfully reject your ill-advised desire to be a lapdog for the government.
What a drag the free market is and has always been for those who "know" they know best.
Bonnie Erbe and Rachel Mandow.................
Both are bulls.....I mean both are full of bull, sorry about that honest mistake. Both live near dykes. Both are full of bull and live near dykes. Bull dykes.
Thanks Mr. President
I have never been a big fan of News Talk Television regardless of the Network. Events over the past few weeks drove me to take a look at Fox to see just what is so bad on their Network. What I have discovered is that Fox has several programs each day that expose abuses within and sanctioned by our Government and/or those who govern. The facts often speak for themselves. Thank you Mr. President.
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