Re: Ronald Petitte’s letter (TNT, 11-9).
Mr. Petitte states: “Had President Bush and his cabinet openly tried to discredit CNN or MSNBC there would have been an outcry across the country by the mainstream media.”
1) Obama has not tried to “discredit” FOX News; he simply considers it a propaganda arm of the GOP (which it has the right to be), and the administration intends to treat it as such (which it has the right to do).
2) Bush in fact did refuse to do interviews with MSNBC during his 2nd term (his former press secretary, Dana Perino, admitted this in a recent interview). He also refused to grant interviews to the New York Times (remember Dick Cheney’s comment captured by a live mic during the 2000 campaign, where he compared a NYT reporter to a certain unmentionable part of the human anatomy?).
Should I also mention the fake reporter, Jeff Gannon, who the administration planted in the briefing room to ask friendly questions? Or Armstrong Williams, Maggie Gallagher and Michael McManus – columnists who were paid by the Bush administration to endore Bush policies under the guise of “independent” journalism?
It did go on under Bush, Mr. Petitte. And there was no media outcry – even from FOX News.
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