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Obama to sit down for Fox interview

By Tony Romm - 11/12/09 07:55 AM ET

President Barack Obama will sit down with Fox News' Major Garrett for an exclusive interview next week, ending months of bickering between the White House and the network that kept the president mostly off its airwaves.

The news that Obama would join Garrett during the president's upcoming trip to Asia arrives hours after then-Communications Director Anita Dunn -- who first voiced criticism of the Fox franchise -- announced she would soon depart her position.

Tensions between Obama and Fox have been high for the past few months, with each side accusing the other of trying to deceive the public.

Dunn, in particular, had long maintained that the White House "would treat [Fox] the way we would treat an opponent." Other senior staff members had similarly decried the network as biased, questioned its journalistic integrity and urged other networks not to follow its lead.

Fox returned nearly all of those barbs, upping the ante. When the president opted not to appear on Fox News Sunday in September -- despite appearing that weekend on nearly every talk show to discuss healthcare reform -- host Chris Wallace convened a panel to discuss whether the president was stamping out dissent.

Those attacks continued for most of October, but administration officials and Fox executives reportedly reached some form of unofficial cease fire by the end of the month.

Tensions have since cooled quite considerably: The administration has eased its rhetoric, and Fox had the opportunity last week to conduct a sit-down interview with David Axelrod, a senior White House adviser.

Source:
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/67497-obama-to-sit-down-for-fox-interview

Comments (14)

The incompetent balloon boy bogus bama finally figured out he can't lie his way to 2012. This is the beginging of the end for obamas marxist upheaval. There is a GOD and I Thank him every day. None of that 72 elcrapo here.BY jake2 on 11/12/2009 at 10:11
Well, Jake, you're living proof that Fox poisons the minds of its watchers. He isn't lying, he is a great man, dedicated to his country, one of the most competent men to ever sit in the office, there is no Marxist upheaval, and you're a pinhead.BY Thomas Brown on 11/12/2009 at 10:36
I wonder if the prez will treat this as a real interview.BY dave on 11/12/2009 at 10:39
TB, I disagree. I have watched them all for years. If one can not tell the difference between news and poisons, they better follow instead of trying to lead. Watch Fox, and prove what they report is not based on fact uless it is a commentary show.BY PL on 11/12/2009 at 10:53
Looks like capitulation by the obama admin, since they are firing their communications director. Too bad, fox is a festering wound in the mind of the american people. They shouldn't just be boycotted but investigated and fined to death for misinformation, lies and propagandist acts (like when hannity recently showed video from a different rally and said it was a recent one) that are fitting for 1933 Italy but not the U.S.A.BY buhbuhbubbah on 11/12/2009 at 11:23
T BROWN, would you mind sharing why you state that President Obama is one of the most competent men to sit in the office? That is a pretty high praise for the man. I am just curious what you believe makes him so competent.BY Mark X on 11/12/2009 at 12:00
PL - OK, they just showed a 'report' on the Bachman protest, and used video footage of the 9/12 TeaBagger protest to sow how big this one was, overeaggerating the numbers by around a factor for 4. They apologized for doing that after they were called out by the Daily Show. So…is that good enough proof for you? Or is it some kind of liberal conspiracy? Finally, are you willing to concede that the commentary shows on FOX News (which, to me, sounds like a news channel that should always be reporting things based on the truth) are not fact-based? Because, even if you aren't specifically a news program, don't you think that an organization purporting to be a 24-hour news channel should base even its comentary on the truth? After all, it's not like the commentary segments on FOX News are sitcoms and dramas. These people talk about supposedly real world events and analyze them for their viewers.BY RevolutionDynamo on 11/12/2009 at 12:26
Yep, I conceed that they all make mistakes. Watch MSNBC's Chris Mathews and Keith Oberman. I am not plugging Fox News. I frankly dont give a damn who watches what. My answer is toTB about poisioning of minds by Fox News. If you can't tell the difference, then watch one that you can. Fox News viewership exceeds all of the others combined. Some understand.BY Pl on 11/12/2009 at 14:19
Whether or not people view Fox News (a.k.a. faux news to some) as a real news source is irrelevant. The argument can be made both ways that certain media sources have a bias. The simple truth is that the White House took on Fox News directly and once again they have found out that regardless of whether or not they want to deal with certain situations you can't just wish them away. By all accounts, the fact that Obama is granting an interview of any kind with Fox is enough proof to me that this Administration realizes they have lost the propaganda campaign/slogan "CHANGE" they rode into Washington with a year ago. It is very nice that the President has granted an interview to Major Garrett, but it is "a day late and literally a DOLLAR SHORT" on making good with the American people. The arrogance and elitist attitude and the fact that they have ridden on the coat-tails of continually saying "the people spoke in 2008 for change" all the while ignoring that the people never stopped speaking all through 2009, but "NOT" for this kind of change" is why they are now trying to dig themselves out of the hole they find themselves. They have been frozen in time to the mantra of "2008/Change" and became fixated on it…all the while ignoring the people. I think and I really mean this the White House has finally turned on their lights…unfortun ately, they've found out really isn't anyone home. Their arrogance has left the American people in the dust. Yes, people spoke in 2008 for change and they never stopped speaking into 2009. That's called Democracy…it just fell on very deaf ears. The President was to interested in listening to his choir.BY Fran on 11/12/2009 at 15:13
Thomas…Jake is no pinhead but you sure are an O'blemming…hope you can swim.BY Reality Check on 11/12/2009 at 21:14

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