It's amazing to me that in the face of terrorism, ruthless dictators, a sagging economy and a host of other problems, the White House's biggest fear is: FOX News.
They tells us they know that FOX does have specific opinion programming, Glenn Beck, The O'Reilly Factor, Hannity, to name a few but seem to indicate that the news portion of FOX News isn't a news organization. White House Chief of Staff, Rham Emanuel stated about Fox News, "It's not a news organizations so much as it has a perspective".
White House Spokesperson, Anita Dunn said "When (Obama) goes on Fox, he understands that he's not really going on it as a news network . . . He's going to debate the opposition."
Of course none of these people could actually show any fortitude to show up on FOX News to make such an accusation. They had to go on the competitor (competitor meaning getting continually beat in the ratings) with there tail between their legs. Heaven forbid that people disagree with your position and (gasp) be critical of it. I can't remember Bush's White House ever talking about unfair media coverage and pointing out that certain outlets aren't news organizations.
One positive note I will hand out is that FOX News has not been the only media outlet that has been critical of this stance. Jake Tapper of ABC News has been a great example of taking the White House to task for these comments.
Tapper: It’s escaped none of our notice that the White House has decided in the last few weeks to declare one of our sister organizations “not a news organization” and to tell the rest of us not to treat them like a news organization. Can you explain why it’s appropriate for the White House to decide that a news organization is not one –
(Crosstalk)
Gibbs: Jake, we render, we render an opinion based on some of their coverage and the fairness that, the fairness of that coverage.
Tapper: But that’s a pretty sweeping declaration that they are “not a news organization.” How are they any different from, say –
Gibbs: ABC -
Tapper: ABC. MSNBC. Univision. I mean how are they any different?
Gibbs: You and I should watch sometime around 9 o’clock tonight. Or 5 o’clock this afternoon.
Tapper: I’m not talking about their opinion programming or issues you have with certain reports. I’m talking about saying thousands of individuals who work for a media organization, do not work for a “news organization” — why is that appropriate for the White House to say?
Gibbs: That’s our opinion.
The mainstream media may be overwhelmingly liberal but they hate being portrayed as "lap dogs" by the people they are reporting on even more. Many conservatives have charged President Barack Obama with making up a Nixon type of enemies list. He claimed FOX News was a "basically talk radio". With the attitude like this and ones stated by his administration, I am starting to think that there is some truth to this.