White House's Fox News Boycott Attempt Prompts Network Revolt [UPDATED]

Update 10/24: The picture of how Fox News came to be included in the round of interviews with "pay czar" Kenneth Feinberg continued to get clearer Saturday. CLICK HERE FOR NEW DETAILS on how the other networks in the pool refused to participate in the interview without Fox News.

UPDATE: Politico reported this afternoon that it was primarily the Treasury Department that was in charge of arranging whether or not Fox News would attend the round of interviews with "pay czar" Kenneth Feinberg, as opposed to the White House. And according to Mediaite, the Treasury Department has denied any attempt to exclude Fox News, saying:

There was no plot to exclude Fox News, and they had the same interview that their competitors did. Much ado about absolutely nothing.

As for Fox's claim that other Washington bureau chiefs came to the network's rescue over the alleged snub, TPMDC reports that it spoke with one of the other network bureau chiefs, who apparently was surprised to learn that Fox was describing the situation that way.

"If any member had been excluded it would have been same thing, it has nothing to do with Fox or the White House or the substance of the issues," the bureau chief said. "It's all for one and one for all."

Friday night on the "CBS Evening News," White House correspondent Chip Reid corroborated the idea of the networks standing up behind Fox News.

"All the networks said, that's it, you've crossed the line," he said.

WATCH:

As for the White House, it continued its confrontational tone with Fox News while also denying any attempt to bar them from yesterday's interview, TPMDC reports:

"This White House has demonstrated our willingness to exclude Fox News from newsmaking interviews, but yesterday we did not," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest

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The White House attempted to block Fox News from a round of interviews with "pay czar" Kenneth Feinberg Thursday, but the Washington bureau chiefs of the five TV networks included in the White House pool refused to interview Feinberg unless Fox News was included.

Fox News says that the White House "failed in its attempt to manipulate other news networks into isolating and excluding Fox News."

The attempt to shut Fox News out was the latest move in the administration's ongoing battle against the cable news channel, which several senior administration officials have claimed is not a legitimate news organization.

The decision by the network bureau chiefs to stand with Fox News is one of the first instances of the mainstream media defending Fox News against the White House's claims.

"I'm really cheered by the other members saying "No, if Fox can't be part of it, we won't be part of it,'" Baltimore Sun TV critic (and regular Fox News detractor) David Zurawik said Thursday.

"What it's really about to me is the Executive Branch of the government trying to tell the press how it should behave. I mean, this democracy -- we know this -- only works with a free and unfettered press to provide information," he said.

Watch:

Comments

[ZombyWoof]

Fox got a lot of support when they revealed that the White House kept Fox from interviewing Pay Czar Kenneth Feinberg. The mainstream press took Fox’s word for this.

It turns out that was a lie.

Fox claimed that viewership rose significantly in the two weeks after their sparring with the White House over the Kenneth Feinberg incident as opposed to the two weeks before.

Well not exactly. They compared all14 days from the first two weeks to just 12 days from the latter two weeks, leaving out the weekend in which their viewership plummeted bringing the net gain down to just a 1% increase.
Again the mainstream press just took their word for it without checking the numbers themselves.

Now this obvious Rovian tactic.
And again the mainstream press is biting just on Fox’s word.

Fool me once shame on you,
Fool me twice…ah what’s the use.

[Wisdo]

"What it's really about to me is the Executive Branch of the government trying to tell the press how it should behave. I mean, this democracy -- we know this -- only works with a free and unfettered press to provide information," he said

with free and unfettered "press" like Fox News who needs Al Kaida?

[2lib4oh]

So the Fox News Bullies get other networks to do its bullying.How clever.These guys are being punked by Fox and they don't even know it.

[Prudens]

Wisdo. The press are defending their future right to exist. They are also defending the first amendment. They day any president can decide what is legitimate news and what is not is the day our republic loses the capability to effectively demand truth from its leaders. This is not just an Obama thing, many presidents have tried to control, kill or muzzle the press. If they care about their futures as independent media outlets they should stand up for each other.

[StillweRise]

Bull.
The president is not trying to decide what is and is not news. what he 'is' trying to do is go after those that distort his position on a minute-to-minute basis, for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. THAT is a huge difference. that is not infringing on freedom of speech. as a matter of fact, it is the utilization of his own freedom of speech to call them out on the lies they tell.

[Dunbar]

I was switching stations the other night and came upon FOX (I refuse to watch them) and they had a clip on from "The Untouchables" where Sean Connery says, "And that's the Chicago way." If you know the movie, it's in the church when he's talking to Ness (Costner).

They cut to Chris Wallace leading a roundtable discussion, and after saying how much he loves Connery in that movie -- the only thing I've agreed with FOX on ever I think -- he then says, "And speaking of the 'Chicago way,' the Administration this week...."

So in that minute, they had inferred Obama's administration were a bunch of mobsters.

Unbelievable.

I get why the news organizations defended them, but they're missing the point. They are NOT news; other networks need to start standing up for the principle of objective news reporting, not propaganda.

[shadowalker]

Actually if they actually meant it that way they implied, you inferred.

I think you are being overly sensitive.

[Guitanguran]

Nearly 10,000 comments, and for what? So we all can vent? Name call? Take pride in the last little zinger we typed up?

If there is to be any target for anger or venting, its Washington DC.

Forget about the R's and D's for a moment, but think about the lies THEY All have been telling YOU, for decades.

Democrats: are you getting what you voted for? With majorities in both houses and a Democrat President, you wonder why you still can't get what you voted for?

Republicans: are you any better off by letting your Republican Congress and Presidents off the hook because of an "R" beside their names?

We all want things to be fair, to be equitable, to be open and honest when it comes to our government, do we not?

Rather than rant and try to score 'points' against each other, shouldn't we instead focus our attention on those people that have the power to change our lives here in this country and make sure THEY'RE accountable?

I for one have for too long let my representatives off the hook because of their party affiliation.

Not doing it anymore.

Whatever we're going to do about wars, healthcare, energy, jobs or anything else, we have to be able to pay for it and stop borrowing to do it. That needs to be fixed first, or nothing else matters.

If we don't tell Washington to stop or we'll fire them all, and mean it this time, we're doomed.

[fr33d0mhawk]

Wow, you sound like a liberal. Liberals have been holding their own leaders accountable, with far more liberals protesting Obama than neocons protesting Bush. The other problem is politics is not as simple as merely just passing legislation. Many deals have to be struck to move anything in Washington, and the outside pressure from lobbyists who threaten to cut off campaign funding, its a razors edge politicans have to walk to even survive. Did Obama make a mistake seeking bipartisanship on legislation? Obama has been tiptoeing around neocon politicians, the same ones who claim Obama was born in Kenya, that Obama is Hitler, that Obama is trying to murder old people and children, because Obama is rightfully afraid that the neocons will form a violent revolt costing thousands of American lives. At some point though, Obama will have to realize that the number one priority for the GOP is to smear Obama at any cost to America, that neocons are against America as much as they are against Obama. I think the neocons gushing of sympathy over the deaths of the Somali pirates who held a US captain at gunpoint proves that neocons will do anything, sacrifice any moral, join sides with terrorist pirates, anything just to smear Obama, and by proxy, America. It has to be the hardest job in the world, working with people who in all reality want you dead and disgraced regardless of what position you take on any issue.

[Guitanguran]

"Liberals have been holding their own leaders accountable, with far more liberals protesting Obama than neocons protesting Bush."

First off, I'll not use terms like 'bleeding hearts' (which I don't anyway) so let's dispense with patently derogatory terms like 'neocons'. You poison your arguments when you go to the schoolyard for names to call people.

Second, there's no point in getting into a yellow snow painting contest, OK? Nothing of substance has been done by ANYBODY because the corrupt politicians blowing out the budget are still there. We both have to be willing to take out our own corrupticrats, not just the other guys.

"Many deals have to be struck to move anything in Washington and the outside pressure from lobbyists who threaten to cut off campaign funding, its a razors edge politicans have to walk to even survive. "

I don't need a lesson on how Congress currently works. I'm already painfully aware.

Lobbyists dont' vote, we do.

[Prudens]

This is another 'Liberals are great, everyone who doesnt agree with Liberals are bad' rant. It is just disguised as being related to the topic. Guitanguran has a point about parties not truly representing or even espousing the ideologies they claim. Nor following them. It is common practice for all parties to mislead, misrepresent and play dirty politics. Anyone who claims that this is not true is just being naive. He is suggesting we 'throw the bums out' so to speak. Perhaps not a bad idea.

Also, claiming Bush did this or that does not excuse Obama's misdeeds. Just as claiming Clinton did this or that did not excuse Bush. Using such logic just pushes forward false arguments and distracts from the topic at hand. Lastly, neocons (big gov, social conservative) supported Bush, moderate republican­s/libertar­ians (fiscal conservative, social liberal, small gov) opposed him. I think neocon is a valid classification, if it is used in proper context. Just as liberal or conservative can be. It is when these terms are used as a slur that it becomes ugly and base.

[ginsushark]

Fox lies so much its hard to take anything they say seriously. the news industry is so fake, corrupt and incompetent that they dont see fox has gone too far - and copy cat foxs fake stories. no wonder everyone has to rely on blogs or comedy shows for real news.

[solidtartan]

you rely on comedy shoes for real news? ha ha ha

[StillweRise]

so do fox "news" watchers....

[ashcom]

When I wrote for a local newspaper, I worked hard to be thorough and objective. I would ask people if they could tell my opinion on articles of news. If they could, I would rewrite the article.

Opinions count, and they are important. But they are not the news. Objective reporting is so hard to come by. And yet so necessary to a democratic society.

FOX and all the networks should be identifying opinion as opinion.

ashcom

[Guitanguran]

And therein the problem lay.

It's 'lay', right?

[Chip W]

"lies"
Third person present singular of "lie" is "lies."

[GoogleMaster]

Judging from all the headlines these days, Fox IS the news .. even if it doesn't do the news.

[HammerRobbie]

Absurd. Fox is not a news organization, pure and simple. The fact that Fox is available on TV, that it pays anchors or commentators to sit at desks and talk to cameras does not make it a news organization. The idea that it exposes supposed liberal biases does not make its content "true" by any stretch. Fox has no interest in "news" except to undermine or destroy "liberals". Are we now incapable of drawing the common sense distinction between a news organization and a propaganda machine?

[33Greeper]

I have banned Fox "News" from my household using the parental control device. Murdoch's RW spew is an insult to intelligence.

[winterfield]

Yes, I have too. f^x opinions are banned from my TV. This could be an effective boycott. I urge everyone to boycott "that" channel. This way the sponsors are cut off without going through all that rigmarole of writing individual complaints. Cut off the food and the organism dies. Bravo.

[LordByron13]

Done. And done. (Two tv's).

[Ohsherrie]

It shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody that the corporate networks would all stick together against a Democratic White House. It has nothing to do with journalistic integrity, it's all about Rupert's corporate buddies.

[Kevins]

Some other news outfit took the slogan "All the News That's Fit to Print",

--so Fox was left with making up crap that isn't fit to print.

[ranchero42]

Seems to me the MSM had no choice but to defend Fox "News" because piling on would have brought the wrath of those advertisers that have been put on notice.

Put on notice that advertising on this GOP billboard could be construed as ongoing violations of existing laws concerning soft money donations.

Democrats demanding their fair share; what is it about that sounds so familiar?

[LHB58]

The main reason I used to get cable TV was for news. I gave it up about four years ago, and now I see that I wasn't giving up much.

[LaceSky]

Where is Jeff Gannon? Remember him?

[Beca]

It figures that the other network execs. say "all for one and one for all" they are all the same, and for the rest of them to put themselves at the same level of Fox it speaks volumes! They are euqally complicit in perpetuating the lies and deceptions of the GOP, and in designing their news shows to favor their corporate interests, rather than to impart the truth and facts. They are all garbage.

It is intersting how when former President Bush and his administration constantly snubbed any media outlet that even remotely gave the perception of leaning left, and virtually ignored alternative media outlets--nobody from the "one for all and all for one" networks stood up in protest! They just followed the Bush white house directives on what to report, what to ask, what not to report, what to push, etc.

The only news get is via the internet, alternative sources, and on MINDTV, where I can get feeds of practically every news outlet in the world--with no filtering, no stupid edititing, just news, facts and the truth. In fact, I learn more about what our own President is doing and our Congress is doing from these sources than from any U.S. media source. Plus, I also get to see what is actually going on around the world! Yeah, unlike what our stupid news would like you to think, there is an entire world out there! with lots of interesting things going on!.