Fox News likes to claim that it is "fair and balanced", but it would take a brain-dead individual to believe that. Fox is nothing more than the propaganda wing of the Republican Party. And the "news" channel has been very unfair to President Obama. They have done everything they can to make the president look bad -- from airing any story that would made the Obama administration look bad to telling out right lies about the president. And they have been a prime mover in promoting the "birther" movement (those who claim the president was not born in the United States) -- even continuing this long after it was proved to be false.Now Fox News is claiming they are being treated unfairly by the Obama administration. They say they are being ignored at presidential news conferences, and are not allowed to ask questions. Is that true?
As of Monday, January 14th, President Obama had held 36 news conferences since being elected president. Here are the top 15 news organizations that have been picked to ask questions in those conferences (along with the number of times they were allowed to ask a question):
ABC News...............29
CBS News...............28
Associated Press...............27
NBC News...............26
Bloomberg News...............20
Reuters...............17
CNN News...............16
New York Times...............16
Fox News...............14
Washington Post...............11
USA Today...............9
Wall Street Journal...............8
American Urban Radio News...............5
McClatchy Newspapers...............5
National Public Radio...............5
Note that Fox News falls near the middle of the 15 most called-on news organizations, having been called on for a question 14 times. While that may not be as much as some other news organizations, it is more than some other, much better respected news organizations (like the Wall Street Journal, NPR, and USA Today).
Frankly, I think the president has been more than fair by calling on them 14 times -- especially considering the blatantly unfair treatment Fox News has given the president since his election. If I had been in the president's shoes, the number of times Fox News had been called on would be a lot closer to zero (but then the president is probably a much nicer person than I am).
I was going to say it's time for Fox News to stop whining about this, but then whining is what they do the best (next to lying). They have been treated more fairly by the president than they deserve.
