(via The Hotline)
The “Q” making a big deal out of this is Washington Post’s White House Correspondent and frequent Countdown guest, Jim Vandehei:
Q It’s come to my attention that there’s been requests—this is a serious question—to turn these TVs onto a station other than Fox, and that those have been denied. My question would be, is there a White House policy that all government TVs have to be tuned to Fox?MR. McCLELLAN: Never heard of any such thing. My TVs are on four different channels at all times.
Q Because you have four different TVs. But every time I’ve ever been—
MR. McCLELLAN: Every TV in the White House also has channels every—has a split screen, where they can—
Q Well, they always seem to be tuned to Fox, and there’s been requests, and these are paid for by taxpayer dollars. And my understanding is that you guys have to watch Fox on Air Force One. Is that true?MR. McCLELLAN: First time I’ve ever heard of it. First time you’ve brought it to my attention, meaning the first time the press corps has brought it to my attention. In fact, I’ve watched other channels on here.
Q There’s one—
MR. McCLELLAN: Hang on, Jim, come on. I’ve watched other channels on here, so I don’t know where you’re hearing that. But it’s the first time anyone in the press has raised that question with me.Q You’ve watched other channels other than Fox?
MR. McCLELLAN: On here, yes, sure.
Q I’ve never seen—they’re always turned to Fox, which a lot of people consider a Republican-leaning network.
Q Scott, is it one—on the airplane, is it one for all? I mean, if it’s tuned for Fox here, is it Fox everywhere?
MR. McCLELLAN: I think that certain areas may be interconnected, but I’ll have to double-check which.
Q Is yours off, wherever you are?
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, the conference room, or the senior staff office, the staff office, they’re different TVs, and you can switch to different channels. I’m not sure if some of these in the back are connected to some of the others that are watching right here, right now. It doesn’t look like it to me. I’ve never known anyone that’s raised a complaint about a request from back here to watch a different channel.
Q I’m officially raising it and officially complaining about it.
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I’m going to go see if we can change the channel for you. Have you called up?
Q I was the Fox victim, and I was told—the quote was, “No,” when I asked for CNN.
MR. McCLELLAN: I don’t know who you talked to, so—it didn’t come to my attention. You don’t know who you talked to either?
Q Well, the magic people at the other end off the phone.
MR. McCLELLAN: The magic people at the other end of the phone. Well, I’ll see if this cabin is—
Q I was told, “We don’t watch CNN here, you can only watch Fox.”MR. McCLELLAN: As I said, it’s hard to respond to something when I don’t know who it is you talked to.
Q I used the phone back here.
MR. McCLELLAN: I find this all quite amusing, to tell you the truth. I mean, there are a lot of people on this plane that do watch that channel.
Q I’ve never been told, no. They’re such nice guys up there.
MR. McCLELLAN: First time you brought it to my attention. I’ll go see what we can do on it.
- * * * *
MR. McCLELLAN: We just called up. They’re going to be changing it, at your all’s request, to the channel that you requested, which is CNN —from the press corps.
Q Thanks, Scott.
END 11:39 A.M. EDT
Conservative Outpost linked with I want my CNN!...
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RightWinged.com linked with White House Press Corps. Jim VandeHei Orders A Wahburger And Some French Cries...
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Amber linked with The White House Press Corps REALLY Needs to Grow Up
Iowa Voice linked with White House Press Demands Equal Time...
Stop The ACLU linked with White House Press Core Prefer CNN Over Fox...
Joust The Facts linked with The Petty Concerns Of An Oblivious Press...
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6:48 pm [ Quote ]
To be fair, they should alternate between Fox News, CNN, ABC News, CBS News, MSNBC, and Oprah and Dr. Phil re-runs every thirty seconds.
6:49 pm [ Quote ]
I am sure Scott will really miss these fools.
6:49 pm [ Quote ]
It’s hard to believe this is the same brave press corps that won World War 2… oh, wait, that wasn’t the press corps.
7:19 pm [ Quote ]
The Petty Concerns Of An Oblivious Press…
Pathetic. Perhaps they could muster up such a burst of inquisitiveness and journalistic doggedness when it comes the the political leanings and interactions of one Mary McCarthy….
7:22 pm [ Quote ]
I’m looking and I’m uncertain if this is a satire piece or if it was real. Can someone clarify this for me?
7:27 pm [ Quote ]
The press’ priorities. Pathetic!! Wahhhhhhh
7:56 pm [ Quote ]
Damn this questioner for wanting a different channel…Quick tell Dick to lock George in in-case he gets contaminated with a dose of the truth.
8:09 pm [ Quote ]
..need some cheese with that???
8:14 pm [ Quote ]
This is politics. Petty, vindictive, ignorant.
FOX News is especially offensive to the “objective” journalists’ patriotism.
Patriotism means loving our enemies and hating America’s government, like surly teens rebelling against their family.
8:42 pm [ Quote ]
So this isn’t satire…
8:54 pm [ Quote ]
It is obvious by the ratings that Fox News IS the network America watches.
9:01 pm [ Quote ]
It is obvious by the ratings that Fox News IS the network America watches.
Whaaa???
But even in the limited sense of average hourly watchers, Fox is only No. 1 among 24-hour cable news channels. Fox , like CNN , now reaches about 4 of every 5 television households, so comparisons with broadcast news shows are increasingly valid. And among all television news sources, Fox ’s performance is nothing to brag about.
The O’Reilly Factor is the best-rated show on Fox , with about 2 million viewers a night (Daily Variety , 12/5/03). CBS Evening News , the least-watched broadcast network evening news show, routinely gets four or five times as big an audience, and that’s seen as a ratings disaster. Fox ’s flagship news show, Special Report with Brit Hume , gets a million viewers on a good night-a few thousand more than the local newscast of New York City’s WNBC (Hollywood Reporter , 10/1/03; Nielsen).
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2005
9:02 pm [ Quote ]
CNN regularly claims a cume about 20 percent higher than Fox ’s (Deseret Morning News , 1/12/04). For instance, in April 2003, during the height of the fighting in Iraq, CNN ’s cume was significantly higher than Fox ’s: 105 million viewers tuned into CNN compared to 86 million for Fox (Cablefax , 4/30/03). But in the same period, the ratings reported by most media outlets had Fox in the lead, with an average of 3.5 million viewers to CNN ’s 2.2 million.
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2005
9:03 pm [ Quote ]
FOX News, They lie a lot. But they’re the kind of lies Wingers like.
9:24 pm [ Quote ]
Geeeeeeeeezus….
Who pissed in Jim’s corn flakes?
9:29 pm [ Quote ]
It must be hard being a 32 percenter. Lying all day long for someone who could give two shits about you. God Bless.
9:33 pm [ Quote ]
press proving that they are liberal! LOL
9:33 pm [ Quote ]
Is this the WH press corp, or is it the kindergarten class at the local elementary school in Bethesda?
9:35 pm [ Quote ]
Dallas:
So tell me, exactly what major broadcast network (CBS, NBC, and ABC) is broadcasting their Evening News at 9am or 10am when the White House conducts their daily briefings?
Why are you listing the ratings of the major Evening News broadcasts when WH briefings are held in the morning or early afternoon?
Nobody is claiming that any of the 24/7 cable news networks draw enough viewers to rival the “BIG 3” broadcast networks. That is a given and it goes unsaid.
Also, it wasn’t Fox News that purposely withheld information detailing Saddam’s atrocities in order to maintain their reporting presence in Iraq and not kicked out of the country by Saddam’s regime.
Uh, that would be Eason Jordan of CNN.
9:37 pm [ Quote ]
White House Press Core Prefer CNN Over Fox…
You have got to be kidding me! This is the most ridiculous whining I have ever heard. No, really, how is this news?
Expose The Left and Michelle Malkin are reporting this crybaby episode from the Press Core.
Q It’s come to my attention that …
9:51 pm [ Quote ]
White House Press Demands Equal Time…
Cry me a river:
Q It’s come to my attention that there’s been requests—this is a serious question—to turn these TVs onto a station other than Fox, and that those have been denied. My question would be, is there a White House policy that all …
10:01 pm [ Quote ]
Dallas,
You idiot. CBS is free, FOX is not.
10:22 pm [ Quote ]
[...] One has to suspect that the White House Press Corps is bored, has too much time on its hands, and/or is really fishing for an issue. Is this not the most childish conversation you have heard in a long time? how is this news? Expose The Left and Michelle Malkin are reporting this crybaby episode from the Press Corps. Q It’s come to my attention that there’s been requests — this is a serious question — to turn these TVs onto a station other than Fox, and that those have been denied. My question would be, is there a White House policy that all government TVs have to be tuned to Fox? MR. McCLELLAN: Never heard of any such thing. My TVs are on four different channels at all times. [...]
10:26 pm [ Quote ]
Press Corps Prefer CNN…
Please, read this from Expose the Left. It’s also over at Malkin. You have to be kidding me. I don’t think Tony Snow will acquiesce so easily, though!...
10:33 pm [ Quote ]
White House Press Corps. Jim VandeHei Orders A Wahburger And Some French Cries…
(h/t Michelle Malkin) Apparently Jim VandeHei of the Washington Post felt that his whiney liberalism was being eclipsed by the likes of David Gregory and Helen Thomas, so he took it up a notch today and set the bar for…...
10:54 pm [ Quote ]
Dallas:
What part of “leader in CABLE news” do you not get?
The “big 3” is received by anyone who has a television and knows how to plug it in. FOX, CNN, MSNBC, etc. is received via cable and satellite. Duh.
11:16 pm [ Quote ]
Some CNN With Your Whine, Perhaps?...
Oh, how I wish Scott would’ve had the TV channel turned over to something like “American Idol Extra,” “Days of Our Lives,” “Judge Judy,” or “Little House on the Prairie” (All perfectly agreeable shows, mind you. Except for DOOL.) With only a f…
11:23 pm [ Quote ]
Fox new, the whores of the airwaves. It’s only number one because it attracts the vast idiot population.
11:41 pm [ Quote ]
Do they have nothing else to complain about?...
Unbelievable! Like a bunch of 4 year old children who throw tantrums when they dont get things exactly their way. I can’t believe they actually get paid for this nonsense!
Are you sure this is the job you want Tony?...
11:59 pm [ Quote ]
Drive-By Media Blows Cover…
Why would a Bush White House, with a newly hired Tony Snow (from Fox) as Press Secretary, tune most, or any for that matter, of the TV’s to the “Clinton News Network.”
...
1:02 am [ Quote ]
[...] For more: Michelle Malkin and Expose the Left. [...]
1:15 am [ Quote ]
Hey Dallas…
What does your link to viewer stats from 2003 and 2004 have to do with viewer preferences today (in 2006)? Is that the most current reference you can find to challenge Fox’s performance?
1:26 am [ Quote ]
Joe:
Obviously you see yourself as intellectually superior to the “vast idiot population.” Just a suggestion…when you post something that sounds like a 12 year old, it doesn’t reflect well on your intellect.
7:59 am [ Quote ]
McClellan Comes Under Fire From Press, Defends Bush’s Involvement With “Big Potato Chip Industry”...
This following transcript is from a White House Press Corps briefing from earlier today. In it, outgoing Press Secretary Scott McClellan is brought to task for alleged presidential snack food improprieties: Q: It has come to our attention that- and…
9:16 am [ Quote ]
32Slaatch Said:
1:15 am
Hey Dallas…
What does your link to viewer stats from 2003 and 2004 have to do with viewer preferences today (in 2006)? Is that the most current reference you can find to challenge Fox’s performance?
What’s the matter, don’t know how to use Google? It is common knowledge (in the real world) that cable news shows have a fraction of the viewers that Mainstream (broadcast) Networks pull.
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117921704?categoryid=1275&cs=1
In cable news, Fox News Channel showed a rare weakness, slipping 6% in total audience in April from the same period a year ago, while CNN gained 11% and MSNBC 7%.
Fox averaged 825,000 viewers in a month marked by the deaths of Pope John Paul II and Terry Schiavo, compared to 531,000 for CNN, 249,000 for MSNBC and 235,000 for CNN’s Headline News.
...
CBS has averaged a little more than 6.8 million viewers in Schieffer’s first six weeks at the helmhelm, down 7% from the same period last year.
9:17 am [ Quote ]
(That’s dated Tue., Apr. 26, 2005, 4:23pm PT)
9:19 am [ Quote ]
You go find something more recent that says FOX outperforms CBS, NBC or ABC. But you won’t. The numbers haven’t changed that much.
People just don’t watch cable news all that much.
9:21 am [ Quote ]
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000527747
This was interesting. Political bias of viewers and their tastes in news. Cons seem to prefer news that slants Right.
9:58 am [ Quote ]
Only makes sense. A president that surrounds himself with yes-men and yes-women is naturally going to watch a cable news channel that won’t ever criticize him.
9:59 am [ Quote ]
Press corps pussies all!
10:23 am [ Quote ]
I have often wondered how uncomfortable the Press Corps is when they get exposed to Fox News all day long at the White House. Of course, since they are busy spinning the truth to qualify for creative fiction awards, I would laugh and tell them to take notes on how fair and accurate news reporting is conducted.
RE: Tony Snow, I would love it if he moved the Fox News folks to the front of the room, and moved the Pandering Socialists right out of the Press Briefing room.
10:27 am [ Quote ]
DALLAS
!!
What is wrong with you. Did the logic part of your brain check out for the weekend.
CBS, ABC, NBC, free if your smart enough to plug your tv into a wall and have an antenna.
FOX, MSNBC, CNN, $30 a month for a basic cable package in some areas.
So that means anyone can watch for free the big 3, while Fox is winning in the group of people paying $30 a month.
That is like this comparison “more people by BMW cars for people buying cars in the $30-$40 thousand range. But most people in the country by Hondas.”
When you make these lame comparisons, you just sound feeble. Stick with what category these things are in.
11:40 am [ Quote ]
“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH
!
YOU WATCH FOX NEWS AND NOT OTHER NEWS CHANNELS???? THAT IS SO UNFAIR
WAAAAAAAAAAHHHH
!” THESE REPORTERS REALLY NEED TO GET A LIFE.
Who gives a flying fig if the President prefers FOX?! IT’S A BETTER NETWORK ANYWAYS! The American people seem to think so….
I mean come on…When Bill O’Reilly’s 4 am rerun beats out Keith Olbermann’s primetime slot and Wolf Blitzer’s first run, you know that the other networks really suck…
1:02 pm [ Quote ]
Some of you guys need to get a job and work for a living…
1:34 pm [ Quote ]
What a bunch of spoiled little brats.
2:08 pm [ Quote ]
My apologies for posting this again, but Dallas didn’t respond as to the reasoning for posting (the big 3) ratings.
Dallas:
So tell me, exactly what major broadcast network (CBS, NBC, and ABC) is broadcasting their Evening News at 9am or 10am when the White House conducts their daily briefings?
Why are you listing the ratings of the major Evening News broadcasts when WH briefings are held in the morning or early afternoon?
Nobody is claiming that any of the 24/7 cable news networks draw enough viewers to rival the “BIG 3” broadcast networks. That is a given and it goes unsaid.
Also, it wasn’t Fox News that purposely withheld information detailing Saddam’s atrocities in order to maintain their reporting presence in Iraq and not kicked out of the country by Saddam’s regime.
Uh, that would be Eason Jordan of CNN.
Once again, NOBODY IS CLAIMING THAT FOX NEWS IS DRAWING ANYTHING CLOSE TO THE BIG 3 NETWORKS
2:38 pm [ Quote ]
I want my CNN!...
It seems as though the folks in the White House Press corps aren’t too happy with the choice of news channel made available to them while crusin’ around on Air Force One:WASHINGTON (CNN)—It wasn’t the price of gasoline,......
2:42 pm [ Quote ]
http://www.comedycentral.com/sitewide/media_player/play.jhtml?itemId=12814
5:01 pm [ Quote ]
Weren’t they whining about the free chow they were served on Air Force One a while back?
I say open the back hatch and empty out the back of the plane over a corn field…