GOP lawmakers criticize Obama for snubbing Fox News

By Molly K. Hooper and Sam Youngman - 09/16/09 07:21 PM ET

A handful of Republican lawmakers, including Rep. Joe Wilson (S.C.), say that President Barack Obama is ignoring a large segment of the public by refusing to appear on Fox News.
Obama is scheduled this weekend to appear on every major Sunday talk show except for “Fox News Sunday.”

Fox News, which is considered more conservative-leaning than ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN, confirmed Obama will not be interviewed on its network on Sunday.
Wilson, who was reprimanded this week by the House for his outburst at Obama last week, said that by excluding Fox, the president was not being fair.

“If people are going to be on the Sunday talk shows, they should be on all of them,” Wilson said.

Wilson, incidentally, appeared on “Fox News Sunday” last week, but not on any of the other Sunday shows.

Rep. Pete Sessions (Texas), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, told The Hill that Obama has “handpicked” his audience.

“I think that Fox News would ask some realistic questions that members of Congress are asked and the American public is aaaasking. And he’s the one who’s choosing not to take part in that,” Sessions said on Wednesday.

Obama is reportedly going to tape one-on-one interviews with the hosts of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” CBS’s “Face the Nation,” ABC’s “This Week,” CNN’s “State of the Union” and a program on Univision.

Freshman Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) said that the White House’s media strategy is an example of the president not living up to his promise to change the tone in Washington.

“The only thing this shows is that the president is ignoring a very large segment of this country. He said he was going to reach across party lines and be a different kind of president, but so far he hasn’t followed through with real action,” Scalise said.

Some House Democrats saw nothing wrong with Obama’s decision to forgo Fox.

Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) said that it has become clear “which networks are really fair” while predicting that the president will eventually appear on “Fox News Sunday” in the future.

The White House did not comment for this article.