Despite Intentional Snub, White House Press Corps Rallies to Include FOX NEWS

In an overt, intentional attempt to shut out FOX NEWS from an interview with the pay czar, Kenneth Feinberg yesterday, the White House excluded Major Garrett, FOX NEWS White House correspondent, from the reporters participating in the pool coverage of the interview.

That is, until the other news bureaus included in the pool refused to go forward with their interviews unless FOX NEWS was included. After some deliberation, Anita Dunn, White House communications director, bowed to the media’s request and allowed FOX to participate in the interview. The White House, doing what they usually do after a self-inflicted embarrassing incident, later excused the incident as a misunderstanding.

Unfortunately there’s no misunderstanding the Obama White House’s goal to disparage an entire news organization as “…not being a real news organization…but as having a perspective”. Just days after trotting out chief of staff Rahm EmanuelRahm Emanuel and presidential political advisor, David AxelrodDavid Axelrod on the Sunday morning political talk shows to parrot those remarks, the White House makes a blatant attempt to exact its revenge for coverage they don’t always find to be in agreement with the way the White House wants to spin it.

This was an important event for our republic and its institutions. It’s reassuring to see the White House press corps stand up for the principle of a free and unfettered access to the powers of our government officials for all its member organizations. But time will tell if the American press will continue to display this kind of courage in the face of threats of ostracism and exclusion from the top officials in the Obama administration.