Since the White House ‘war on Fox’ began two weeks ago, Fox News ratings are up nine percent. Pundits from the left and the right advised the White House that an attack on a news organization would only backfire. It appears the pundits were right.
This week, when Fox was excluded from the interview schedule, the other networks protested. The reason may be out of honor for the first amendment or self presurvation as the same treatment could be afforded them if they don’t hold the Obama policy line.
It’s a nine-percent bump in the two weeks since Anita Dunn’s whine heard ’round the world — in terms of overall audience. Among the coveted 25-54 demographic? A 14-percent bump. Good work, Barry. People keep telling me that this PR offensive by the White House benefits both sides but I don’t see how that’s true. If the goal is to contain Fox by framing the stories it breaks — Van Jones, ACORN, etc — as somehow illegitimate, then every tenth of a point that Fox’s ratings go up undermines that goal.
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