FINALLY! Pushback against Faux News

It's really not news. It's pushing a point of view. And the bigger thing is that other news organizations like yours ought not to treat them that way, and we're not going to treat them that way. We're going to appear on their shows. We're going to participate but understanding that they represent a point of view."

David Axelrod on ABC's "This Week" 10/18/09

It's not so much a conflict with Fox News. But unlike I suppose the way to look at it, the way the President looks at it and we look at it, it's not a news organization so much as it has a perspective. And that's a different take. And more importantly is not have the CNNs and the others in the world, basically be led and following Fox as what they're trying to do as legitimate news organization in the sense of both sides and a sense of valued opinion.

Rahm Emanuel on CNN's "State of the Union" 10/18/09

It's about damn time. Faux is to objective news what the NFL Network is to football - a wholly owned subsidiary pushing a biased viewpoint. In the case of the NFL Netowrk however, nothing that comes out of Rich Eisen's mouth can affect the dirction of our nation.

It's been my contention for years that Fox should be treated as an entertainment network by the public, and maybe more importantly, by its peers. Fox gains it's power when other legitimate news sources (CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN) treat it's reporting as being on-par with theirs.

The standard Fox response is to poke at MSNBC, saying "we're no worse than they are". And truth be told, MSNBC is wandering into opinion-news territory. However GE has made the smart move of keeping it's 2 entities separate. Fox is not.

Fox maintains that they maintain separate functions of news and commentary. First, this is disingenuous. Second, if this is so, then they need to putt on-screen icons up letting the public know which is which.

This is all moot however. Fox revels in it's contrary nature. They follow the Ailes/Atwater playbook of saying something so often that they (and hopefully you) believe it.

Good on the White House for growing a set. No one is denying Fox's right to exist. But let's not take them seriously either.