Fox News commentators like Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly have attacked the Obama administration for its aggressive posture toward the cable news network. On radio yesterday, Mr. Beck even compared the White House decision to shun his network to the seeds of the Holocaust. But it is notable that the White House is making hay of the network’s news coverage, not just its opinion programs.
Anita Dunn, the White House communications director, asserted in recent interviews that there is little difference between the news and opinion shows, save for exceptions like the White House correspondent Major Garrett and the anchor Shepard Smith.
After Fox covered the back-and-forth with the White House in a news report Monday afternoon, the White House raised an eyebrow. James Rosen, the reporter on the segment, was the State Department correspondent for Fox — until the channel shut down its bureau there recently.
Bill Burton, a deputy White House press secretary, said in an e-mail message, “Apparently covering the State Department at a time when there are two wars and important foreign policy issues that emerge every day, there are other things that Fox News thinks those reporters ought to be covering.”
Fox rebutted by saying that it moves resources regularly, “as any news organization would,” to follow the news.
Said Michael Clemente, the senior vice president for news, in a statement, “But when the top military commander is calling for more troops, and the White House is coming down on the military for putting out parts of the troops recommendations, why are they talking about where James Rosen hangs his hat each day, rather than about the strategy for Afghanistan?”
Fox noted that when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton traveled abroad this week, it had a correspondent with her. CNN reassigned its State Department correspondent last year, according to reports at the time.
Separately on Tuesday, a White House representative said that “many stories” on Fox are false. Asked about the volley of volatile exchanges between the administration and the network at a press briefing, the White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said, “I have watched many stories on that network that I have found not to be true.”
from the new york times
Anita Dunn, the White House communications director, asserted in recent interviews that there is little difference between the news and opinion shows, save for exceptions like the White House correspondent Major Garrett and the anchor Shepard Smith.
After Fox covered the back-and-forth with the White House in a news report Monday afternoon, the White House raised an eyebrow. James Rosen, the reporter on the segment, was the State Department correspondent for Fox — until the channel shut down its bureau there recently.
Bill Burton, a deputy White House press secretary, said in an e-mail message, “Apparently covering the State Department at a time when there are two wars and important foreign policy issues that emerge every day, there are other things that Fox News thinks those reporters ought to be covering.”
Fox rebutted by saying that it moves resources regularly, “as any news organization would,” to follow the news.
Said Michael Clemente, the senior vice president for news, in a statement, “But when the top military commander is calling for more troops, and the White House is coming down on the military for putting out parts of the troops recommendations, why are they talking about where James Rosen hangs his hat each day, rather than about the strategy for Afghanistan?”
Fox noted that when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton traveled abroad this week, it had a correspondent with her. CNN reassigned its State Department correspondent last year, according to reports at the time.
Separately on Tuesday, a White House representative said that “many stories” on Fox are false. Asked about the volley of volatile exchanges between the administration and the network at a press briefing, the White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said, “I have watched many stories on that network that I have found not to be true.”
from the new york times
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