Obama and Fox News

Frank, Thomas. “Obama is Right About Fox News.” The Wall Street Journal. The Wall Street Journal, 28 October 2009. Web. 29 October 2009 <Ihttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703574604574499671746743510.html>.

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According to Thomas Frank, President Obama is accurate in his criticism of Fox News and his Communications Director, Anita Dunn, is corrrect when she says that the Fox News network is "a wing of the Republican Party." Mr. Frank also points out that Fox is capitalizing on criticism from the White House by portraying it as another example of "Middle America's disrespectful treatment by the liberal elite." In addition, Fox is relating its "persecution" to President Nixon's enemies list and to the actions he took to try to silence the Washington post. Frank points out that Fox News is actually the one with connections to the Nixon administration. They regularly featured G.Gorden Liddy, on of Nixon's henchmen, on their network. In addition, Roger Ailes, Fox network's chairman, was an advisor to President Nixon in 1968. Frank goes on to give an example of what his thinks is biased reporting on Fox's part. Fox News claimed that the reason the New York Times published stories about President Bush's wiretapping in 2005 was that the Times wanted to discourage Senators from "reauthorizing the Patriot Act". Frank describes Fox News by saying that it is "different, that it is intensely politicized, that it inhabits an alternate reality defined by an imaginary conflict between noble heartland patriots and devious liberals. -- to be aware of these things is not the act of a scheming dictatorial personality, it is the obvious conclusion to anyone with eyes and ears." Mr. Frank does, however, criticize the way President Obama dealt with the situation. Simply denouncing Fox News gave the network more reason to claim persecution. According to Frank, President Obama and his administration should have used "sarcasm, irony, and a little humor" to get their points accross. Instead, Obama's attacks have just helped Fox's ratings.

I agree with Mr. Frank that President Obama's criticisms of the Fox News network were "clumsy" and that humor would have been a more effective tool in trying to get people to not take Fox News seriously. I do not agree with him, however, that Fox News is 'inhabited by people who live in an alternate reality defined by an imaginary conflict between heartland patriots and devious liberals." I acknowledge that Fox presents stories from a conservative viewpoint but , in a way, that provides balance to the other networks that have a more liberal approach. More evidence that Fox is not extreme is the fact that its audience is more politically diverse than CNNs. The Pew Survey, which, according to Brogden Kipley of The Chronicle Herald, is the most respected social research organization in the United States, monitors the media thoroughly and without favoritism. The Pew Survey found that the Fox News audience is made up of 39% Repubicans, 33% Democrats, and 22% Independents. CNN's audience is made up of 18% Republicans, 51% Democrats, and 33% Independents. Those figures show that Fox does not just appeal to right wing extremists., but to a much broader audience. As of January 2009, Fox News had already had 83 consecutive months at number one, and has now been the number one news network for eight straight years. I can understand why it is difficult for President Obama to take the criticism that Fox News puts forth about him, but as President, he needs to be able to focus on the issues that are important to the nation and take criticism from the press without spending his time and energy trying to squelch their right to say it.