Fox v. the White House

The media is supposed to serve as a watchdog over the government for the public, but the White House seems to think Fox is taking its role a bit too far.

Fox is notorious for its conservative-leaning news coverage and commentators. It is consistently accused by the left of biased and unverified reporting, and of promoting anti-Obama rhetoric and rumors spread by the GOP. Fox claims the White House is simply confusing the opinions of its commentators with that of its news coverage, and that they are being unfairly boycotted by the White House.

As a journalist, I am taught to cringe at the thought of the leader of our nation favoring certain news outlets over others. The press needs access to government officials to carry out their duties to the public, but Obama is not the first president to place a news organization in disfavor. Bush refused to respond to the New York Times’ requests for interviews after 2005. Obama may, however, be the first president to do so in such a public way.

While, as a journalist, I find the White House’s decision worrisome, I also have to consider what would lead a president to freeze out a specific media outlet so openly. When you consider the brutality with which Fox’s commentators have hammered Obama since the beginning of the election, it’s to blame him.

As for Fox’s defense that its commentators are not its news, I think it is hard to discern between the two. When you think of a media outlet, you think of its top personalities. For me, when someone mentions Fox, I don’t always think of its reporters first. Instead, images of Glen Beck and Bill O’Reilly pop into my head. When I think of CNN, I see Anderson Cooper. The commentators make up part of the news organization in the same way the reporters do, and in many cases they are more high profile.

There are potential positive effects of the boycott. It could serve as a reminder to news outlets to not become too entrenched in the politics of one side. As far as being potentially harmful to democracy, Fox is still reporting. As long as they are not kept from obtaining information necessary to accurately report the government’s actions, then I don’t think the White House is overstepping.