The War Against Fox News (1)
No wonder the Obama administration has decided to single out Fox News as its major opponent, and to wage war against it. Almost everyone acknowledges that with its signal slogan, “We Report: You Decide,” the network in fact leans towards the conservative side, particularly when it comes to its array of on the air pundits and commentators. But what particularly must rankle the White House is that Fox’s ratings are growing daily, and at present during Obama’s first year in office, are the highest it has ever achieved.
I have addressed this question earlier, in a blog in which I paid special attention to the forced resignation of Van Jones and to the expose of ACORN’s wrongdoings. Fox News was also the only network to consistently play the videos prepared by James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles, which quickly became so popular that not only did the other media outlets have to treat it as a legitimate news story- which it was- but was also taken up by the nation’s most popular comic talent, from Jay Leno to Jon Stewart.
To any observer, it is clear that if Fox is the conservative’s station of choice, MSNBC is the darling of those on the side of liberals and the far Left. Why else do these viewers regularly watch Maddow and Keith Olbermann? Is what they do any different from what Beck, O’Reilly and Hannity do? Of course, MSNBC has its balanced “Morning Joe” with Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski. But Fox News also has its equivalent on its top rated Sunday program, Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace. And the 6 pm “Special Report with Bret Baier” has its daily panel, that regularly includes mainstream liberal pundits Juan Williams and NPR’s Mara Liasson.
And yet, the administration has sought to only make war against Fox, and will not allow its people to be on any of their shows, even those widely acclaimed as fair-minded. As Anita Dunn, the White House communications director said, “We’re going to treat them the way we would treat an opponent. As they are undertaking a war against Barack Obama and the White House, we don’t need to pretend that this is the way that legitimate news organizations behave.”
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Notes:
Ronald Radosh is an Adjunct Senior Fellow at The Hudson Institute, and a Prof. Emeritus of History at the City University of New York. He is a Presidential appointment to the Public Information Declassification Board, for a term extending from 2007 to 2010. He is the author or co-author of 14 books, including The Rosenberg File (1983 and 1997); Commies: A Journey through the Old Left, the New Left and the Leftover Left (2001) Spain Betrayed: The Soviet Union in the Spanish Civil War (2001); Divided They Fell: The Demise of the Democratic Party (1996) and Red Star Over Hollywood:The Film Colony’s Long Romance with the Left (2006). He has regularly contributed to The New Republic, The Weekly Standard, National Review, The Los Angeles Times, World Affairs Journal, and other newspapers and journals of opinion. With Allis Radosh, he is author of A Safe Haven For These People: Harry S. Truman and the Founding of Israel, to be published my Morrow/Harper-Collins in May 2009.
Popularity: 23% [?]
Male, retired and the rest is of little interest to anyone. The site keeps me busy and if it helps others to stay abreast of daily events then my time is well spent.
Philanthropist Says:
Fox News doesn’t make it a point to attack the Socialists for the sake of attacking the Socialists, MSNBC however attacks any person or organization that does not agree with its ‘progressive’ agenda – ad nauseum. It is an entire waste of time to watch MSNBC because they are so predictable, by the time they have crafted their ‘right-wing-conspiracy’ hit-piece against someone, it’s old news.
Obama and Hugo Chavez are both egomaniacal ‘progressives’ who know what’s good for everyone else, it would be no surprise if Obama’s apparatchiks have been quietly told to find a way to strangle his only real opposition.
The author of this article asks why journalists from the old liberal media don’t question what the Obama administration is doing, that’s easy to answer – they’re anticipating their share of a ’stimulus’ package and a regulatory regime that will fill their pockets over the long term with taxpayer dollars.
Posted on October 13th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Soccermom Says:
Glenn Beck has criticized George Bush, too. I think he’s against old-school politicians in general, who always seem to be in it for themselves only.
O’s whitehouse just doesn’t like anybody uncovering the nasties about their administration; and yes, there are plenty of those.
Posted on October 13th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
Brian S Says:
All biases aside, neither CNN or MSNBC have remained informative or at all interesting to watch since FOX News hired away so much of their best talent, but maybe the Obama administration has plans to bail out the first TV network they can cause to go bankrupt so as to turn it into Big Government Channel.
Posted on October 13th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
UV Says:
By the way, where is George W. Bush? Its like he’s dropped off the face of the earth. Oh, maybe hes got a job at Fox.
Posted on October 13th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Brian S Says:
I would tune into the George W. Bush show just to avoid the nonstop Obama worship on all the other channels, and Bush’s ratings would easily beat out those of MSNBC’s Olbermann the uninformed sportscaster, or Rachel Maddow who got into broadcasting by winning an on-air radio personality contest, as well as CNN’s newest useless hire, Joy Behar from The View.
Posted on October 13th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
beentheredonethat Says:
The White House accused Fox, perhaps Beck specifically, of feeding false info to their viewers. So what did Beck do, he said “oh yeah” and threw down the gaunlet. He hooked up a ‘hot line’ telephone and provided only the White House with the number. He challenged somebody from the Obama administration to call him on air, prove him wrong and he would be happy to immediately correct any misinformation . The telephone sat silent for the entire show. The hole just gets deeper and Fox’s ratings continue to go up like Al Gore’s ‘hockey stick’ only this graph’s for real.
Posted on October 13th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
UV Says:
Well, I see that Rush Limpbaugh’s alleged racist past is coming back to haunt him as some AfroAmerican football players say they will quit their team should Limpburger be successful in buying a NFL team.
Geez, with an attitude like that, Limpruger should work for Fox.
The U.S. seems more divided than ever. Sure glad I dont live there even though we have a problem with some ‘francophone power groups’ up here.
Posted on October 14th, 2009 at 10:57 am
beentheredonethat Says:
If they’re not intelligent enough to use a computer to research the accusations for authenticity instead being content to rely on the ‘everything negative said about Obama is being said by racists’ MSM then let them quit. Considering that the length of the average career in the NFL is 3 1/2 years they better hope they don’t stand in the employment line for too long. They’re blowing smoke and need to be called on it. If they’re serious and actually quit then the joke is on them….fools.
Posted on October 14th, 2009 at 4:00 pm