Fox Should Pay Obama for Pitching It

Fox News' numbers speaks for themselves. In the first quarter Fox was the second most watched channel in primetime. It bagged the top spot among nine out of ten cable shows. It made CNN and MSNBC look like amateurish high school student broadcast facilities. In the second quarter Fox did even better with an astonishing ratings jump more than thirty percent higher than the first quarter.

Their runaway number one audience, ad, and ratings recruiter is President Obama. Yet, Obama keeps pitching Fox. First he publicly tried to shoo everyone away from the network. Then he blocked its request to interview so-called pay czar Kenneth Feinberg. This got the dander of even some moderate Democrats up. They recognize that he's making a cardinal blunder in propping up Fox through the backdoor with his attacks.

It also ticked off the major TV networks. Free Speech, First Amendment, the right to broadcast, and accessibility were the issues that made them see red about Obama's ham-handed effort to punish Fox. Hey, it's Fox the president dumps on today -- it could be us tomorrow.

Obama just can't seem to help himself with his obsessive need to bash Fox and gorge its ratings binge. Fox, of course, giddily loves every swipe that he takes at it. It should. Having the president attack you is the best advertising in the world without having to spend a nickel on it.

The puzzle is not so much that Obama hasn't figured out that he's the best pitch man for Fox. But that he hasn't learned that bad mouthing the right side media gabbers only makes them bigger than life.

Take Limbaugh. In January, Obama took the ill-fated step and made him his momentary punching bag. The predictable happened. The Media Research Center found that Limbaugh's ratings soared through the roof. Radio affiliates that carried Limbaugh's syndicated show floated on Cloud Nine with the listener stampede to his show. Limbaugh quickly saw the goldmine, mined it for all it was worth, and hasn't missed a beat since.

The incident further coronated him as the de facto mouthpiece for the GOP. It set in stone GOP opposition to anything that Obama and the Democrats come up with, and gave the legion of Obama baiters and loathers more ammunition to blast him on the airwaves, in chat rooms, websites, and even more despicably in race baiting cartoons, emails, Facebook and Twitter posts.

Obama, it seemed at one point, knew enough not to be a salesman for his critics. During the campaign when Republican rival John McCain dredged up Sarah Palin some Team Obama members foolishly saw this as a chance to go dirty with him and her. Obama quickly saw the folly of this. He publicly congratulated her for being the VP pick and then said not another mumbling word about her. He understood that he was running against McCain, not Palin. Despite her mind boggling incompetence and unfitness, she was a woman, a mother, had an afflicted child, and was the darling of the rabid right. Beating up on her would simply rally the hordes of Christian fundamentalist and ultra conservative troops and inflate her (and the politically moribund McCain) to colossal proportions in the media. The lesson from ignoring Palin obviously didn't last.

Obama's pummeling of Fox won't do anything to shove down the station's huge ratings numbers. It will only boost them. You'd think the president would figure out by now he's their star, unpaid pitchman.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His forthcoming book, How Obama Governed: The Year of Crisis and Challenge (Middle Passage Press), will be released in January, 2010.

Comments

[JTHC75]

This article is exactly right--it's dumb to engage this way with Fox. Not only is Fox a 24 hour news network, but Obama is the freaking leader of the free world. No way should he elevate a domestic media org as some kind of equal opponent.

[Estreet1964]

I disagree. I think it was brilliant to make Limbaugh "the de facto mouthpiece for the GOP".


The more thoughtful, rational, mainstream Americans see of Limbaugh and the circus of hate and ingnorance at FNC the more they will reject it. Yes, their legions ditto heads and knuckle draggers will be energized. But so what. They are a small lunatic fringe and by the loonyness of their antics they will be widely viewed as such.

[patches36]

Mr. Hutchinson,
You are absolutely right. As a regular FOX watcher the White House's war with FOX only makes every Fox show lead off with The President against an indepentant news channel. I know every body thinks Fox only preaches to hard core Republicans but in reality Fox reaches a lot of independents and even a large manny of liberals.Shutting down anti-messages may work in Chicago but with the full blown coverage of cable news it just can not be done.

[noudidnt]

Seems to be working...now only 22% of the public call themselves "Republican".

Nice try, though.

[TaiTai]

Fox is absolutely insufferable since they got the Obama bump. I'd almost prefer that they go back to talking about death panels and faked birth certificates than continue to blather on about how persecuted they are. I used to turn them on occasionally - mostly to try to see if Beck was crying - but now they're just boring. I haven't turned on Fox in over a week.

[blizb]

Obama has appeared on Fox and probably will again but you can never say they have treated him fairly when any good he has done for this country is never presented on their network.

I don't think he or anyone at the White House really cares about what Fox "thinks"; I believe they care about what is really fair.

Everyone in the news that calls any criticism an attack is wrong, they are also free and have free speech and are entitled to an opinion.

God knows Fox does opinion 24/7 so they are only upset someone is doing their "schtick."

Fox declines to cover actual news that doesn't reflect their point of view, that isn't "fair and balanced" coverage.

When anyone declines to be on their network they are the first to "attack".

Why do people think that Fox has the right to decline to cover news but no one has the right to question them??

[S1m0n]

Remind us, Earl. What's the best defense, again?

~~

Two weeks ago the national conversation was about whether Kevin Jennings, the anti-bullying Czar, is a homosexual, fifth-columnist. This week the debate is about whether Fox news is journalism. Who do you think is winning?

As long as Fox is talking about what the president wants them to talk about, he's winning.

[FebM]

Got ya!

[cheeriogirl]

It really is that simple, isn't it Simon? President Obama is in control of the conversation, NOT Faux. I would say, we have a winner!

Fanned!

[Laws456]

The President contributing to Fox's ratings is not the story. I keep hearing people say that Obama should fall back on calling them out. This entire argument is missed when you only minimize it to ratings. The President and his advisers never said to NOT watch Fox. They said what many of us already know, that they are a network that only pushes republican talking points. He didn't say they were evil, or mean or any other adjective anyone would like to use to describe them. If the President didn't call out Fox, they'd still be the number one network. With this strategy, I hope that more people would not only turn to Fox for their news. It's ok to watch Fox as long as you diversify how you take in the news. I don't suggest watching Fox because they are not news, but if you do, that's to your detriment. As several reports have already stated, look at the network's coverage of the health care debate. They don't give both sides equal time. Today's news show featured someone from AHIP and someone from the Chamber of Commerce. And both men had only bad things to say about the current health care plans being debated. I wish the rest of the media wouldn't treat Fox as if they are an objective network that only reports unfiltered news. The Pres only wants people to know that when you watch that channel, the slant is always hard right.

[Cleanerman]

Just ignore Fox News. Better yet, just ignore TV news altogether. I do. I have the internet and I have Netflix . Why pay good money for bad entertainment?

[yankees]

Great article! Thanks to Obama I have been watching Fox News, and Fox Cable to see what the heck is going on. Fox News is on par or better than most other stations and the Fox Cable is not without merit. Can't stand a couple of shows but we have Olbermann! The rest is fair and balanced, especially for us Moderates out there that helped this present Administration get elected.

[Eoin45]

"..we have Olbermann!" What do you mean we? If you think Fox is mostly fair and balanced you;re hardly one of us and hardly a moderate either.

[MGhamma]

So, as phaux news ratings go up, conservitives, and the republicans ratings go down.

President Obama may be smarter than you think.

Me thinks you might have this backwards Earl.

[ProfessorDuh]

The Fox News crystal ball:
• John McCain will win the election
• The GOP will regain control of Congress
• Conservatives will have be a permanent majority in Congress, the White House and statehouses across the country.
• Abortion will be outlawed
• Social Security will be privatized
• There will be record job growth under Bush
• WMD will be found in Iraq
• A connection between Saddam and 9/11 will be established
• The Iraq war will be over in mere months
• Our troops in Iraq will be greeted as liberators, and flowers and candy will rain down on them.
• The war will not cost more than $200 million
• The oil revenues will pay for the invasion and occupation of Iraq.
• The insurgency is in its last throes
• It will be shown that Mark Foley was set up
• It will be shown that Larry Craig was set up
• IIt will be shown that Mark Sanford was set up
• It will be shown that John Ensign was set up
• It will be shown that David Vitter was set up
• An autopsy will show that Terri Schiavo had a fully functioning brain
• Sarah Palin will never quit.
• Bush will win the Nobel Peace Prize
• Bush will leave office with record high approval ratings.
Fox News prescience is uncanny, isn't it?

[cheeriogirl]

Who can argue with the evidence of the Fox journalistic integrity, mentioned above?

Fabulous work Professor D!

[statementOfIncensed]

How could Obama fail to recognize the power of the politics of engagement domestically with Fox? He's bending over backwards in the House and Senate to reach out to these people's elected representatives, but he's allowing Fox to shape the rancor of their constituents... Of course bipartisanship is failing.

I really and truly thought Obama was smarter than that.

[buggey]

Great job Rahm, Axelrod, Gibbss , and Denn. Keep up the fight with FOX. They called the President Bambi, and no backbone. We knew Obama was tough ! So what if Foxs' ratings are up, ( I don't believe this). The Adminstration is fighting back. and that's a good thing. Also, good job Mr. Grayson. Don't stop White House. Fox strives on hate and deviding the country.

[cheeriogirl]

Actually I don't doubt that their ratings are up, as I imagine many want to see Foxs' faux fair and balanced "reporting" for themselves. They lie, and we decide.... to turn the channel!

[josephXY]

The problem is not so much that Obama makes a statement about it and that he does
give much damn about it. That's actually necessary given the paranoid nature of the entire
media circus, all day long somebody saying something and somebody wailing, screaming, ranting subsquently.
The obsession with Fox is more a problem of the left, for some a rather strange purpose of life,
O'Reilly said!, Rush said!, ...they are popping it up, all too often make false statements on behalf
of News Corps, postulating that it's getting richer, which it doesn't, and so forth.
Another sin of the ranting lefties is that they never get it that Fox gets about 2 million viewers by now.
Deducting from that number one can figure out that somewhere in the 290 million region
people neither watch Fox directly nor do join the scream - and outrage crowd.
And it is also clear that Murdoch doesn't pay anyone for either watching his channel nor
for sacrificing the life screaming about it. It's an obsession benefitting no one, a total waste
of time, just demoralizing others, causing stress, a dead end.

[Jorge Al-Subbad]

Two things drive me crazy about left wing media

1) like you said.... They provide the Rush said, Hannity said, O'Reilly said update going so much that you might as well be watching their shows

2) The left cites as PROOF of something that a right winger said it or "defected" from his side to say it.... your opponent's committment to his fight validates any argument he chooses to make? Mark Mackinnon.. really Rachel?

Ok.. no. 3... Olbermann talks too fast and too much!!! He's not doing a sportscast where his listeners have statistics bouncing around in their heads.. rather he is using a poor information medium to relate information!! If MSNBC or were integrating HDTV and web functionality in a better way but in the meantime.. Olbermann needs to keep his head and his mouth clear .. slow down a bit and let images and ideas breathe and to keep being a happy warrior with short and pithy comic takes on events and people. He's also done some wonderful essay length pieces of late.. and I love him for it.. but essays should be written in a blog.. and rat tat tat monologues would go nicely on the radio which Rachel and Keith are nearly absent from to their detriment Hannity, Scarborough, Dobbs, Beck, Savage, O'Reilly and even Dennis Miller are working in that broadcast format every day and using its superior messaging capability to their advantage and going farther right on the radio than on TV!

[exCaddy]

I watch both Fox News and MSNBC, and I can say that the liberal commentators on MSNBC are every bit as critical as the conservative commentators on Fox. However, if you compare the news divisions, Fox does does a far better job separating commentary from news. At one point, MSNBC even allowed Olberman and Mathews to work as both commentators and news anchors. Even MSNBC anchors Shuster and Hall make little effort to conceal their views when reporting "hard" news.

Pew Research Center did an independent study that showed Fox negative coverage of Obama was the same as that of McCain - exactly 40% of all news stories were negative for both candidates. The Pew study revealed that only 14% of MSNBC's coverage of Obama was negative, versus 73% negative of McCain.

People are certainly entitled to criticize Fox News anyway they wish, however most seem to be focusing on the straw man, and not understanding the difference between news and commentary programming. Beck, Hannity, and O'Reilly do not report the news, just their opinion - and yes, it's conservative. No dispute.

Mr. Hutchinson is 100% correct, Obama's decision to attack Fox has only helped the network, and in the long-run, Fox wins. Additionally, Obama is making it that much easier for Fox by not identifying which Fox news stories are false. They have a right to challenge mis-information, and they should do so; but by just making blanket accusations, they only come across as thin-skinned and petty.

[Indon]

You'd think, but Fox doesn't consider, say, their analysts to be news, either. Convenient Huffpost link:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/23/fox-news-john-stossel-an_n_332058.html

I guess you could argue that Fox clearly divides their news and commentary by not having any news, though.

As for Fox's specific errors, they are far too many for any one person to waste their breath ennumerating them. Try Media Matters: http://mediamatters.org/

You can search by individual show, so you can find Fox's actual news shows and look them up. Hey, maybe they aren't that bad. I couldn't actually tell which of Fox's shows were actual shows just based on the Media Matters website, though, so I hope you know already.

[BuckCarson]

That mediamatters.org looks like "the Authority" on news content.

[exCaddy]

I see a lot of people referencing Media Matters for America as the official, and a presumably unbiased, media watch dog for Fox News. MMFA may very well be a not-for-profit organization based in Washington, but they are a political activist group funded by George Soros through the liberal activist group Democracy Alliance. Relying on them for a fair critique of Fox News is like trusting Rush Limbaugh to be the official media watch dog for MSNBC – let's not kid ourselves. In fact, a lot of people here are saying if somebody relies primarily on Fox News for information, they will get a slanted and ignorant view of the the world. Well, I don't see how this is any different when it comes to Media Matters. On his program, Glenn Beck compared the giving of free services to future voters analogous to heroine dealers giving drugs to future customers. Was this the most tactful analogy? Probably not. However, Media Matter is running an edited clip that makes it appear that Beck is literally accusing the President of dealing drugs. Does anybody actually believe this is factual, or that Media Matters is not intentionally misleading? If one guilelessly eats this up as fact, it may explain why so many here don't just disagree ideologically with conservative commentators, but actually believe they are racist, bigoted, or just plain nuts. If they do know it's misleading and repeat it, then they're doing the same to which they accuse Fox.

[BuckCarson]

You can always watch a rerun of FOX of the preceding evening by tuning into MSNBC. They appear to have no other content other than displaying disdain for FOX.

Incidently, I think Olbermann and Maddow are psychologically well balanced. That should become the catch phrase of MSNBC, "MSNBC: Psychologically Well Balanced".

Everyone has their positives.

[littleolwinemakerme]

exCaddy sez
Beck, Hannity, and O'Reilly do not report the news, just their opinion - and yes, it's conservative. No dispute.

it's not conservative, It's Nuts!!

[ProfessorDuh]

The liberals on MSNBC have a viewpoint, but they do not lle. Fox News lles constantly. Google "Malmedy" and "the Paris Business Review" and you'll see what I mean.

[BuckCarson]

I love Glenn Beck. It's great that the likes of Woodwardand Bernstien have come back when we needed them.

[BuckCarson]

The most honest blog on this entire site. You give me nothing to hate, so I must go to bed now.