Fighten mellan Vita Huset och Fox News över?

Det har ju varit allmänna diskussioner om mediehantering på hög nivå senaste tiden här i DC - Vita Huset bojkottade offentligt nyhetskanalen Fox News, vilket skapade enorm publicitet, och stigande tittarsiffor för Fox News. Nu verkar det som om Vita Huset drar sig tillbaka och säger att de åter kan tänka sig att ställa upp i Fox News. Var det verkligen värt detta rabalder i kritiska health care-tider?

White House officials to appear on Fox News
(Ur Washington Post 19 oktober 2009)

After impugning the objectivity of Fox News and saying that they would begin to treat the network as "an opponent," White House officials said Sunday that they will allow administration officials to appear on the network.

Last week, White House communications director Anita Dunn said Fox News, which airs the shows of several conservative commentators, functions "almost as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party. . . . We don't need to pretend that this is the way that legitimate news organizations behave."

Her comments sparked a fresh battle between the White House and the network. In response to the criticism, Fox News executive Michael Clemente said in a statement that President Obama's aides had decided to "declare war on a news organization."

"This is a White House engaging in its own version of the media enemies list," Carl Rove said on "Fox News Sunday." "It's unhelpful for the country and undignified for the president of the United States."

Obama eschewed "Fox News Sunday" when he appeared on five Sunday-morning news shows last month. Again this week, he sent aides to discuss the war in Afghanistan, the economy and the overhaul of the nation's health-care system on ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC. Fox was left out.

Still, senior Obama adviser David Axelrod said on ABC's "This Week" that administration officials are willing to appear on the network in the future.

Fox's Clemente said, "The door remains open, and we welcome a discussion about the facts behind the issues."