Posted on 10/23/2009 10:02:03 AM PDT by Corky Boyd
One shouldn’t underestimate the significance of the pushback by the members of the White House news pool over the exclusion of Fox News from the interview process with pay czar Kenneth Feinberg. The unanimous decision of members of the pool (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and CNN) to refuse any interviews without Fox’s presence had the White House quickly and dramatically reversing course... That the pliable media, so long in the bag for Obama, saw a bigger issue: the freedom of the press. And they stood firm....
All of this was not only to marginalize Fox, but to set the stage to ensure the press pool would do the White House’s dirty work to exclude Fox. It didn’t work out that way.
(Excerpt) Read more at islandturtle.blogspot.com ...
I’m pretty amazed that the MSM took this stand.
You are exactly right. I posted as much last night and this morning. By trying to exclude Fox from the pool, they were challenging the way they all cover the White House. It was a recipe for disaster. As Fred Grany says, “Once you throw down, you may never throw up.”
America's early Presidents didn't like criticism any more than current ones do, but they valued liberty more than personal ego. That is why they tolerated, even embraced, the idea of a free press.
The Framers' Constitution was a "People's" document to limit the power of their government, and "the press" has been seen as "the People's" watchdog on their government; therefore, the idea of "freedom of the press" has been seen as another dimension of liberty.
When one dimension of liberty is threatened, then all are at risk, and the blatant example of unconstitutional use of government power provided by this "battle" deserves a more competent argument than has been being provided by either Fox or other "conservative" organizations.
Thomas Jefferson, who was criticized by the press of his day, was outspoken on the idea of a free press! "Our liberty cannot be guarded but by the freedom of the press, nor that be limited without danger of losing it." --Thomas Jefferson to John Jay, 1786.
"No experiment can be more interesting than that we are now trying, and which we trust will end in establishing the fact, that man may be governed by reason and truth. Our first object should therefore be, to leave open to him all the avenues to truth. The most effectual hitherto found, is the freedom of the press. It is, therefore, the first shut up by those who fear the investigation of their actions."(Underlining added for emphasis) --Thomas Jefferson to John Tyler, 1804. ME 11:33
hey, you never know when you may need to come to Fox looking for a job someday....
Well done, MSM!
I may not agree with with your style, but I don't begrudge giving you credit where credit is due.
Huffington Post reports that Robert Gibbs told Fox News White House correspondent Major Garrett that the attempt to exclude Fox News from a series of interviews with Special Master for TARP Executive Compensation Kenneth R. Feinberg was a mistake by a young Treasury Department staffer. Fox News exec Michael Clemente comments.
Posted by Michael Calderone 05:32 PM
Don't everyone crack up laughing all at once now....LOL
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