Netroots Try to Label Fox News as Opinion
Netroots Try to Label Fox News as Opinion - The Caucus - Politics - New York Times Blog
It may be the blogosphere’s equivalent of the scarlet letter, and the organizers of Netroots Nation, a gathering of liberal bloggers that is taking place this week, say they will be more than happy to pin it on Fox News.
Planners of the conference want to force representatives of the cable news network to wear credentials identifying them as opinion media rather than providing them with the regular press passes other news outlets will receive.
“Fox News calls itself fair and balanced, but it’s not,” Josh Orton, political director for Netroots said in an interview. He accused the network, which is popular among conservatives, of misrepresenting itself.
The Netroots, however, may not get their way.
A spokeswoman for Fox News said the network would not be sending anyone to cover the four-day conference that kicked off in Austin, Texas, on Thursday.
But if anyone from the network shows up, Mr. Orton said they would have to wear a press pass with the words “Opinion Media” printed on it. The credential would not restrict Fox’s ability to cover the conference, but Mr. Orton said that journalists from other media organizations like Air America, the liberal radio network, and the National Review, a conservative journal, would receive regular credentials. The difference, Mr. Orton said, is that those outlets are “explicitly progressive or explicitly conservative. They don’t have a branding problem.”
Fox News has long been a lightning rod for liberal criticism, especially in the opinion-charged world of blogs, and the move by organizers to, as they put it, re-brand Fox News is just another sign of continuing friction. The idea to label Fox journalists as opinion media is, in fact, not a new one. It’s been tossed around on blogs, and MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann also floated the idea on his show last summer.
I totally agree with this, but while we're at it, can we give the same "opinion media" passes to Keith Olbermann and Chris Mathews?
Labels: Fox propaganda, Media, Media bias, Netroots, Olbermann







