Yesterday, President Barack Obama went on an unprecedented five Sunday talk shows in an attempt to shore up support for his health care plan. He appeared on NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN and Spanish-speaking Univision.
Missing from that list? FOX News.
The president apparently snubbed the conservative-leaning network, opting for media sources that were less biased against him. Many will undoubtedly look down upon this, and see it as the president refusing to work with people who oppose his ideas -- an odd charge to make seeing as he has many Republican allies within his administration.
There is a simple explanation for why the president chose not to go on FOX: the news station rarely, if ever, gives him positive (or even objectionable) media attention, often distorting his views and perpetuating myths about his proposed reforms.
This is a network that regularly gives a voice to a movement that considers the president a non-citizen, that has compared the Obama administration to Hitler's Nazis and Orwell's "Big Brother", and that continues to flat-out lie about things the president has said. That doesn't even take into account the countless guests who appear on network programming and label the president as a socialist or fascist.
It's no wonder, then, why the president might try to avoid FOX: when a network treats you like an enemy, causing viewers to overwhelmingly consider you a menace to American politics, it isn't likely that you're going to change many minds by trying to appeal to that base. It's tantamount to a Democratic presidential candidate trying to campaign in Republican-stronghold Utah: you're just wasting time.
Obama shouldn't be looked down upon for not appearing on FOX News earlier this week -- it's his right to only appear on media outlets that will give him a fair shot to explain his proposals, leaving it up for the people to decide for themselves if they're right for America or not. After all, the same corporation chose instead to air "So you think you can Dance" rather than Obama's speech to a joint session of Congress...where do you think their priorities lie?
Obama wasn't likely going to get a fair shot by appearing on FOX News, seeing as the network generally gives the president no shot at all on a daily basis, leaving little room for free thought among the cable station's viewers.
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