 merrie says: After discussing past Presidents who unsuccessfully fought the press, Carr first scolded the White House, and then declared an unpredictable winner: Even though almost all the critiques contained a kernel of truth, in each instance the folks who had the barrels of ink, and now pixels, seemed to come out ahead. So far, the only winner in this latest dispute seems to be Fox News. Ratings are up 20 percent this year, and the network basked for a week in the antagonism of a sitting president...[T]he administration, by deploying official resources against a troublesome media organization, seems to have brought a knife to a gunfight. Carr seemed even less impressed with the tactics the Adminstration has been employing in this battle: On the official White House Web site, a blog called Reality Check provides a running tally of transgressions by Fox News. It ends with this: "For even more Fox lies, check out the latest ‘Truth-O-Meter' . . . . . feature from Politifact that debunks a false claim about a White House staffer that continues to be repeated by Glenn Beck and others on the network." People who work in political communications have pointed out that it is a principle of power dynamics to "punch up " - that is, to take on bigger foes, not smaller ones. A blog on the White House Web site that uses a "truth-o-meter" against a particular cable news network would not seem to qualify. As it is, Reality Check sounds a bit like the blog of some unemployed guy living in his parents' basement, not an official communiqué from Pennsylvania Avenue. Ouch. That'll leave a mark, as will Carr's conclusion: The American ... One of my favorite Voltaire quotes is: "I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it." ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, NPR, CNN, and MSNBC, though acting as the propaganda arm of the Obama Administration, are to be commended for not allowing themselves to be coerced into demonizing FOX News. Perhaps they realized that if FOX were to fall victim to the White House, a buffer of sorts would be removed, leaving them exposed to possibly experience an identical fate. |
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