Obama going after Fox = First Amendment Rights Violation

[msallied]

Seriously?

This is what I'm hearing from a Libertarian friend tonight. He also says that "not even W. tried to go after MSNBC." Are you effing kidding me? Two lefty shows on a network with Chris Matthews, Chuck Todd, David Gregory, and Andrea Mitchell constitutes a "left wing" network? And WHY would he have gone after MSNBC when they and the rest of the media helped pave his way to Iraq, gave him passes on torture, signing statements, the Patriot Act, etc?

Second, why is calling Fox News what it IS a First Amendment Rights violation? There is nothing at all in what the administration has said that precludes Fox's right to say what they say. Just that they come out and ADMIT that they have a bias!

Between this and accusations of Obama making a Nixonian "enemy list," the right has turned into an idiot machine.

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. they are just consistent. Repeat lies until they become truth in their target audience

[AndyA]

2. The right has always been an idiot machine. They're just more desperate now.

Ugly, ain't it?

[msallied]

5. I'm waiting for the "ugly" to be replaced by "dead."

I wish I were somehow endowed with billions of dollars. I'd buy Fox News and turn it into something that doesn't hate humanity.

[hileeopnyn8d]

3. There's an article from the Weekly Standard

going around the right-wing blogs about Fox being shut out of a press briefing with Kenneth Feinberg, the pay czar.

It came up on another messageboard I go to, and I CANNOT find any other source saying it's true that isn't a right-wing blog. It seems they're tying all of the WH comments into this one event, that doesn't seem to have happened. Like Gibbs comment about it being up to the White House Correspondents Assoc. to decide who is a legitimate news org. - They're acting like he said that in *response* to Fox being shut-out, the thing is that comment came before the briefing. In other words, the right-wing is lying again.

Anyway, maybe that's the story he's referring to.

[blue sky at night]

4. to any right wing fuck...

the truth is always a violation of something deep within them, they just can't stomach it. First Amendment violation, since when do they give a shit about the constitution, bu$h said it was "just a piece a paper...."?

[Arkana]

6. Obama's not trying to shut Faux down.

He's just saying that as long as they're going to be a third-rate infotainment channel, he's going to treat them like a third-rate infotainment channel.

[gravity]

7. Republicans love to feel victimized

[Writer]

8. NO. It is in every WAY an EXERCISE of the First Amendment.

An exchange of opinions to the furthest degree.

Prior restraint - now THAT would be unconstitutional.

IDIOTS.

[Arkana]

10. They have the right to spout lies and misinformation, we have the right

to call them out on it. Fair's fair.

[Oregone]

9. Press companies should be held to a standard

Report news instead of incite riot, revolt & assassination

[harun]

22. That is what they don't understand. Any news organization can critisize

and disagree. I wish they did more of that. However, this is not about critics, it is about lying. If you parade as a "news" organization and just sit there and lie all damn day, then of course the President and the administration should not do business with you. This goes for if they support or don't support the President.

This is about truth and falsehood not right and left.

[Norrin Radd]

11. Rachel Maddow definitively answered this:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/33441578#33441578

[sohndrsmith]

12. You're friend is wrong. The Administration isn't limiting anything, especially

Fox's 1st Amendment rights. If anything, they have violated certain journalism regulations - not by being biased - but by misrepresentation of journalism and organized political promotion (although I have no idea if such things exist. My sense of logic and fair play assumes they do, or should).

MSNBC has opinion journalism as does FOX... (duh). But FOX really seems to cross the line with how they promote and manipulate for their political agenda. Olbermann organizes fund raising for free clinics, FOX organizes political protests and hires at least 5-6 military "advisers" paid for by the Bush Administration (remember that?). I don't believe those military men were presented as opinion journalism or with any sort of full disclosure.

I've boycotted Fox for almost 2 years, and I'm so much happier for it. It disturbs me that they are as successful as they are. That's scary. : )

[depakid]

13. Stupid is as stupid does

Ask your "friend" whether he thinks a culture of lies is going to help to advance his country- or lead it into decline.

[Chakab]

14. Your friend is grossly ill-informed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y05lVO_izCY

There's the video evidence of Dana Perino admitting that the Bush Administration did in fact go after MSNBC. They also refused to give the New York Times interviews and pulled the WH press credentials from McCatchy (then Knight Ridder) because of their reporting on the paucity of evidence of WMDs in Iraq during the lead up to the war. That's not to mention all of the other intimidation of the media that the Bush Administration did through the threat of denial of access whenever they faced any serious criticism pre-Katrina (e.g. their treatment of Helen Thomas).

Additionally, your friend's claim that this is a first amendment issue is indeed laughable. The administration isn't trying to have Fox's license pulled by the FCC. They're simply pointing out that Murdoch, Ailes and company have been pushing fallacious attacks night and day since Obama was sworn in and that it's clear that they are the voice of the opposition to the Democrats rather than a legitimate new service.

[phleshdef]

15. Last I checked, the President also has 1st amendment rights.

And if he or people in his administration express opinions on Fox news, they too are exercising them.

[zbdent]

16. decades (centuries?) of whining about largely non-existent liberal bias, and

when Obama's administration makes a statement, and suddenly, "The First Amendment is under attack???"

Remember, Howard Stern was turning against Bush (after years of being for Bush turning Arabs into carbon dust) ... and suddenly, the FCC found a years-old obscure reference, and he's shut down ...

[trof]

17. Criticism doesn't = Censorship

But you already knew that.
:-)

[DavidDvorkin]

18. Broadcast news is different from printed news

In theory, broadcasters have limited rights because they license the airwaves from us, the owners. I assume this theory still applies in the days of cable. It would be nice if that theory were put into practice more.

[Bullet1987]

19. Obama is very nimbly going after the propaganda machine that is FOX News

Not to say CNN and MSNBC don't have their own propaganda...they do. But it's not NEARLY as lopsided and blatantly pro-Right, anti-Obama as the other networks who are more balanced in their coverage. FOX News is the breeding ground for anti-Democratic conspiracy theories and they're openly organizing tea parties against the Obama administration (at least some of their hosts are). When you do that, then you're opening yourself up to criticism and scrutiny because you're trying to be something more than a news organization needs to and you're attempting to become a political arm of the Right (which FOX News has been for years now). The other networks often pull material from FOX News and that's why they defend them (Rev. Wright and Tea Parties just off the top of my head all started on FOX).

[Romulox]

20. He's shadow boxing with them--using them as a prop.

A President cannot call out a television network one day, then use his power to "crack down" on them the next--he's left a trail of baguettes (forget breadcrumbs!) that point back to the ill will that will undoubtedly be blamed as the motivation for any disciplinary action.

So you call them out, slap them around a bit. The point is to rally the troops around a common enemy, really. Fox is just a prop in all of this.

[janx]

21. Obama isn't going after Fox.

He's just acknowledging it for what it is. :shrug: