The White House has declared war.
Not on a country, or a terrorist group, but on Fox News, the Rupert Murdoch-owned news channel.
Fox, with its line-up of ebullient conservative commentators who rail and rant against liberals on blustery evening shows has been reviled by Democrats for years.
But until now, no one has taken on the network in a full bore offensive.
Open hostilities broke out a few weeks ago, when White House communications chief Anita Dunn went on CNN to accuse the network of waging a war on Obama and the White House.
More recently, another senior White House aide David Axelrod said that Fox was not really a news network, implying that Fox was simply a mouthpiece for the Republican Party. Obama himself got in on the act in an interview with NBC this week.
"If media is operating, basically, as a talk radio format, then that's one thing. And if it's operating ... as a news outlet, then that's another," the President said.
Clearly, the White House has made a conscious decision to single out Fox and to target what it sees as blatantly biased coverage of the administration. Top aides say they are simply pointing out falsehoods designed to damage the president.
Obama aides are angry over a string of Fox News reports and commentaries. Earlier this year, commentator Glenn Beck accused the President for having a "deep seated hatred for white people."
Beck, who hosts a late afternoon show, also led the charge against Van Jones, a White House environmental official forced to resign after it was revealed he had signed a petition that questioned whether Bush administration officials may have allowed the 9/11 attacks to happen.
Fox, which broadcasts under the slogan "Fair and Balanced" is reveling in the attention, with reports on its news shows during the daytime and searing commentary by its conservative flame-throwers in the evenings.
The network surely sees ratings gold in fighting a feud against the White House, which could provide ammunition for its shows for months.
But Obama's aides also seem to want this fight. Democrats, some of whom are beginning to question whether Obama will compromise the ideals on health care and Afghanistan, will surely flock to the president's side in a showdown with Fox.
But like any battle, some people are being caught in the crossfire. Fox News reporters at the White House for instance, who specialize in tough, fair news reporting -- with no perceptible slant -- are having an uncomfortable time.
Some other news organizations are also a little nervous. On Thursday, Fox said the Treasury Department tried to exclude it from a pooled series of interviews with the administration's corporate pay czar Kenneth Feinberg. In a rare show of press solidarity, the other networks complained, and the White House relented.
But some reporters in the White House press corps are concerned that a rubicon is being crossed -- after all if it is ok for this president's administration to go after a news organization with a perceived conservative bias -- why should a future Republican president unload on an network which it says has a liberal slant?
In this blog, journalists of global news wire AFP blog about the news they report and the challenges they face covering events from Baghdad to Beijing, the White House to Darfur. Steve Collinson is AFP White House correspondent.
Author Profiles
Anything that is 'Rupert Murdoch owned' should be considered suspect. The pursuit of money and power followed by more power and then more money is surely the order of the day in his Empire.The truth comes a very poor third. Living in a democracy has always had it's drawbacks but on balance, consider the alternatives? Obama will always have to fend off the race issue because of his colour but I think he's got the metal to take on all comers.Hope I'm proved right.
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sniper_traffic//nos. 2 & 3.... what's the BNP got to do with Fox news.Are you on the wrong blog? Oh. I do see now...... they are both economical with the truth and they both try to wear sheep's clothing. Now I get it!
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sniper-traffic, post 4. Eh? What nonsense is this? Obama is 1/8th black and therefore not legally President? Eh? What utter, deranged madness is this you are spouting now? Oh, and the BNP website isn't a biased outlet at all? lol...yeah right, sniper-traffic. Whatever. Away back to sleepy-land with you and let those of us who live in the real world actually have a serious, sensible debate. Every political party publication, whether website, party politcal broadcast on the TV or whatever, whether Labour, Tory, LibDem, BNP or anything, is biased. That's the natural of party politics. Politics are biased. Get a grip, sniper-traffic, and grow up.
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sniper traffic you pretend to be a revolutionary, now you reveal your true colours, a racist little @#$%.
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Another rubbish story to push the BNP forum away - Didn't go the way you planned it - eh Yahoo?
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sniper_traffic is a bit of a ranter, and has only half a lettuce in his allotment, but be thankful people like him are here. It allows us to review issues in a braoder context, and illuminate the fantasy and stupidity of extremists.
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I agree with diubell47 "Anything that is 'Rupert Murdoch owned' should be considered suspect". Absolutely, but you must give him credit fro being a very clever manipulator. He chooses to work behind the scenes and let his empire to the talking. How much does anyone know about him, and how often is he debated in the media, even his own? This is a back room conspiritor with ENORMOUS wealth and power; one of the most dangerous.
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Let's face it, a large number of people accept whatever pap is fed them. It is one of the most depressing characteristics of the human race. The ability to think independantly and objectively seems to be as far away as it ever was, arguably worse in this society of soap operas, reality shows, and gutter press. The reason? Follow the money. Murdoch must be laughing at how easy it is for him. Does he have the well-being of all those who suc@#$%b to his web in his heart? Don't make me laugh...
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I say good on Obama. Take the medai to task. It's not an easy fight, but someone must do it, and he has (at least for a while) a powerful platform to fight from. So what if the right wing press attack the left? What's new? What's new is the establishment attacking the right wing press, and calling them out. It will be dirty and tough. They do not fight by Queensberry rules, and potentially his policial survival could be on the line.
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Any rational, sensible, and honest human being can see the odiousness of the Murdoch media. Then why does it seem to appeal to SO many? What does that say about the state of mankind? Even in the UK there is little challange to the right wing media. What does that say about us? Dare I even begin to think that there is a very powerful man (in Obama), who is not corrupted, and who might even be uncorruptible? That would concern the Murdoch empire, and they will of course use every trick they can to try and undermine his position, as they have little or no regard for the general well-being of society, except in as much as it serves their own agenda.
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It's way past time these people are called out for what they are, but what is far more important is that the general public are made aware and informed. Not easy when the establishment is geared towards secrecy, unaccountability, propoganda, and self-serving...
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the person who write no 10 that is a horible thing to say
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does any one of you think this man or any other that will after him gonna change what criss the world going through
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google NEW WORLD ORDER
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"Fair and balanced" has always been a joke on FOX! Bascially it's who can shout the loudest enoughwins! I remember they once had one political commentator saying it was unfair that Sarah Palin hadn't been airbrushed during her election campaign? Deh..? That shows just how screwed up their ethics are? The true argument should be that nobody gets airbrushed! It just reinforces glossy, dumb and superficial falsehoods. But then again, when you look at some of the Fox Network presenters, don't they eerily look like automated pre-programmed things from the Stepford Wives anyway!
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