White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was on CNN’s Reliable Sources today, where he took aim squarely at Fox News and their coverage of Obama’s nuclear polices. Gibbs said that instead of being a news organization, Fox News is, “feeding an audience that they know wants to see and hear a certain side of that argument.” It looks like the Obama/Fox News war is on again.
Here is the video courtesy of Media Matters:
Robert Gibbs was making a point to host Howard Kurtz about the slant in Fox News coverage of Obama when he said, “Well, here’s a good example. The president signed the START Treaty last week. And there was a lot of debate about whether us reducing our nuclear warheads was making this country less safe. And then the anchor disappeared, and for several seconds there was a 1960s video footage of a nuclear test and a mushroom cloud. Now what you didn’t see was, you didn’t see in any of that, where the last time we are familiar with seeing pictures of START treaties being signed, are that of Ronald Reagan, or when the president makes a pledge to end nuclear weapons on our planet, it mimics what, or what Reagan. So I think in that case, you are, and you’ve mentioned their increase in cable numbers. They’re feeding an audience that they know wants to see and hear a certain side of that argument.”
What Gibbs referred to is exactly what the defenders of Fox News don’t get, a legitimate news organization is not supposed to filter all of their coverage through a political ideology. Fox News attaches their pro-Republican ideology to everything that gets on the air there. They are propagandists and not a news organization because they place ideology and helping the GOP cause ahead of providing factual information to their viewers.
Since the media is composed of human beings, there will always be some bias there, but the difference between Fox News and everyone else is that FNC has institutionalized and promoted bias. Their mission is to put out a biased message to help the Republican Party. This is why it is necessary for those they attack, like the White House, to respond publicly. Since Obama has been elected, Fox News has moved from being a media network with bias to abandonment of their media role for complete political activity and advocacy. Fox News doesn’t behave like a news organization, so Gibbs and the White House are correct in not treating them as if they are.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
Sing it, sister. SO glad that our President is not going to take this quietly. These liars need to be called out unapologetically on their blatant bias.
Certainly biases can be detected in most media outlets; however, I can’t understand why the President’s spokesman would want to waste the time to single out Fox News if (presumably) the numerous other media outlets are not biased. Why bother? If the other outlets are providing good vetted reports of cabinet activities then why sweat it?
I’m not trying to sound paranoid but the only reason I can suspect is that the White House has a particular agenda with regard to Fox News. Just my two cents though.
@Stirling, who controls / owns the media drives the narrative…let’s take a gander at what FOX owns and then you’ll realize you are quite right in sounding paranoid.
Fox Broadcasting Company , Fox Television Stations WNYW – New York City WWOR – New York City KTTV – Los Angeles KCOP – Los Angeles WFLD – Chicago WPWR – Chicago KMSP – Minneapolis WFTC – Minneapolis WTXF – Philadelphia WFXT – Boston WTTG – Washington D.C. WDCA – Washington D.C. KDFW – Dallas KDFI – Dallas WJBK – Detroit KUTP – Phoenix KSAZ – Phoenix WUTB – Baltimore WRBW – Orlando WOFL – Orlando WOGX – Ocala WAGA – Atlanta KRIV – Houston KTXH – Houston WTVT – Tampa WHBQ – Memphis KTBC – Austin
DBS & Cable FOXTEL BSkyB Sky Italia Fox News Channel Fox Movie Channel FX FUEL National Geographic Channel SPEED Channel
Fox Sports Net FSN New England (50%) FSN Ohio FSN Florida National Advertising Partners Fox College Sports Fox Soccer Channel Stats, Inc. Film
20th Century Fox Español
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
20th Century Fox International
20th Century Fox Television
Fox Studios Australia
Fox Studios Baja
Fox Studios LA
20th Century Fox
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Fox Television Studios
Blue Sky Studios Newspapers United States New York Post The Wall St. Journal Dow Jones United Kingdom News International News of the World The Sun The Sunday Times The Times Times Literary Supplement Australasia Daily Telegraph Fiji Times Gold Coast Bulletin Herald Sun Newsphotos Newspix Newstext NT News Post-Courier Sunday Herald Sun Sunday Mail Sunday Tasmanian Sunday Territorian Sunday Times The Advertiser The Australian The Courier-Mail The Mercury The Sunday Telegraph Weekly Times Magazines
InsideOut
donna hay
SmartSource
The Weekly Standard
Big League
ALPHA Books
HarperMorrow Publishers
HarperMorrow
General Books Group Amistad Caedmon Avon Avon A Avon Inspire Avon Red Collins Collins Design Ecco Eos Fourth Estate Harper Mass Market Harper Pakerbacks HarperAudio HarperBusiness HarperCollins Perennial Perennial Modern Classics HarperCollins e-Books HarperLuxe Rayo William Morrow William Morrow Cookbooks Children’s Books Group Amistad Greenwillow Books Joanna Cotler Books Eos Laura Geringer Books HarperAudio HarperCollins Children’s Books HarperFestival HarperTeen Katherine Tegen Books Julie Andrews Books Rayo Trophy HarperCollins International
HarperCollins Canada
HarperCollins Australia
HarperCollins UK
HarperCollins India
HarperCollins New Zealand
Zondervan Other
Los Angeles Kings (NHL, 40% option)
Los Angeles Lakers (NBA, 9.8% option)
Staples Center (40% owned by Fox/Liberty)
News Interactive
Fox Sports Radio Network
Broadsystem
Classic FM
Festival Records
Fox Interactive
IGN Entertainment
Mushroom Records
MySpace.com
National Rugby League
NDS
News Outdoor
Scout Media
Rotten Tomatoes
AskMen
FoxSports.net
WhatIfSports
kSolo
Fox.com
AmericanIdol.com
Spring Widgets
News Digital Media
News.com.au
FoxSports.com.au
CARSguide.com.au
Careerone.com.au
Truelocal.com.au
Have you seen how much Fox controls? He who controls the media controls information (drives the narrative)