SoonerBlue

FishbowlDC reports that White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs met with Fox News official Michael Clemente yesterday and smoked the peace pipe about the little dustup between the WH and the news network.

Clemente, who oversees Fox's news coverage, is said to have met with staffers at the Washington bureau and told them to play nice... to remain "fair and balanced."

I'm not holding my breath on any of that...

So, Fox News wants to come over and trash your house, call you every name in the book, then wants to be invited back...and even be treated like an honored guest?

Doesn't look like Fox would've called a truce if its ratings were still good...more likely the hot war has turned cold.

O'Reilly, Hannity and Beck sure made hay there for a while, using the quarrel as a public-relations tool to stir up support with their base and boost ratings. I still say they probably don't believe half of what they rant about...but simply play the game to gain ratings...which brings power, attention, and money.

In these days of so much easy low hanging ratings fruit - see balloon boy - I guess it's too much to hope for responsible journalism to report on the real problems of our country...and I'm not just talking about Fox. All network news information should be taken with a grain of salt...and it's easy to spot the partisan BS. I personally get my serious news from PBS's "News Hour."

TV news critic and "Network" screenwriter, Paddy Chayefsky said: "Television is Democracy at its ugliest."

Thank goodness we have Freedom of the Press in this country. Fox News certainly has the right to say whatever they want about the Obama administration. But, Freedom of the Press does not require news outlets to be responsible or unbiased. So, Fox has every right to slant stories to align with their political and editorial viewpoints.

Just like the White House has the right to call Fox another arm of the Republican party. Freedom of the Press does not require the WH to treat all news outlets equally...or provide them with a seat at the briefing room table.

Fox News has made no bones about being hostile to the Obama administration. They are perfectly within their rights to practice journalism that way -- and make oodles of money doing it -- but it is NOT responsible journalism.

Another thing -- Fox News will create the story it wants to report. Like when they spent a week promoting the 9/12 protests...and then their newscasters were caught on video whipping up teabagger anger...just so they could report on how furious the "Tea Party" protesters were.

So...if Fox wants to do business that way, they have the right to do so...but there's nothing in the Constitution wot sez the White House has to invite them to sit at the table with the grown-ups.