Thank goodness at least one TV outlet, Fox, is questioning Team Obama as it pushes for the kind of massive change in American life not seen since the era of Franklin Roosevelt. -- David Zurawik
David Zurawik, The Baltimore Sun's long time TV critic, recently criticized television coverage of President Obama:
As we approach another version of what I have come to think of as network-White House co-productions, the TV press desperately needs to step back and question how it is covering President Barack Obama.
Next Wednesday night at 10, ABC News will offer the president an hour of prime time -- as well as prime real estate on all its newscasts throughout the day -- to sell his landmark health care plan.
The need for such self-scrutiny should be all the more apparent in light of the president's complaint Tuesday about one media outlet (read: Fox News) "attacking" his administration. I am no less troubled than I ever was about the way Fox and MSNBC have turned all-news into all-partisan opinion TV in prime time, but thank goodness at least one TV outlet, Fox, is questioning Team Obama as it pushes for the kind of massive change in American life not seen since the era of Franklin Roosevelt.
[. . .]
Perhaps, the best measure of how compliant the mainstream TV press has become is Obama's complaint Tuesday about having "one television station that is entirely devoted to attacking" his administration.
You should read the whole thing.
Zurawik discusses how television has abandoned its watchdog role when it comes to coverage of the Obama administration in the following Fox & Friends video: I wasn't surprised that fox was covering President Obama in the manner it was, but it was really fox was the one channel -- this is Fox News not the Fox Broadcast network, but Fox News was the one channel that was operating as the kind of watchdog that is really supposed to be the function of all aspects of the TV press. [. . .] And especially after seeing NBC's White House prime time special with Brian Williams. I thought man this is just going too far. This is practically a White House co-production. And so I really wanted, I was hoping with this piece to get all the networks and cable channels to be a little more aggressive. [. . .] I think the press should absolutely be asking that question of the president. It should also be asking questions about the Auto bailout and the bank bailout. This is a massive social change that this country is going through it and we are all invested in it by the way. You know earlier you talked about what would the reasons for this. I think one of the reasons is that, as a nation, we are all invested in some of these programs succeeding. So there's a tendency to want to be positive and want to hope that things are working out. But we cannot, we cannot lose this function of watchdog journalism.
Comments