Even the media now realize they have been suckered [image: Z on TV: Sun critic David Zurawik writes about the business, culture and craziness of television]<http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/zontv/>
*« Letterman apologizes to Palins on Monday night show*<http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/zontv/2009/06/david_letterman_apology_palin.html>| *Main* <http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/zontv/> | *What a shock: All the Idol judges said to be returning »*<http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/zontv/2009/06/american_idol_judges_return_ne.html> Time for TV press to quit being used by Obama [image: o]As we approach another version of what I have come to think of as network-White House co-productions, the TV press desperately needs to step back and question how it is covering President Barack Obama. Next Wednesday night at 10, ABC News will offer the president an hour of prime time -- as well as prime real estate on all its newscasts throughout the day -- to sell his landmark health care plan. The need for such self-scrutiny should be all the more apparent in light of the president's complaint Tuesday about one media outlet (read: Fox News) "attacking" his administration. I am no less troubled than I ever was about the way Fox and MSNBC have turned all-news into all-partisan opinion TV in prime time, but thank goodness at least one TV outlet, Fox, is questioning Team Obama as it pushes for the kind of massive change in American life not seen since the era of Franklin Roosevelt. I have been saying since before the Obama administration took office that it is better at manipulating the medium of TV than any White House team since that of John Kennedy, and that was a media universe so different in the early 1960s as to make comparisons almost meaningless. Here are my latest * two*<http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/zontv/2009/06/obama_health_care_push_coming.html>posts on the matter, the *first *<http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/zontv/2009/06/inside_the_white_house_nbc_new.htmlhttp://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/zontv/2009/06/inside_the_white_house_nbc_new.html>one coming after the first of two recent anchorman-bowing-to-the-president sessions by Brian Williams an NBC. What surprised me was how little interest readers had in discussing it -- as opposed to, say, Jon & Kate or Dave & Sarah. The passive acceptance of a servile press was shocking to me. After 24 years of reporting and writing about TV and media on a daily basis, I have to say in fairness that I do not believe ABC, NBC, MSNBC, CNBC and the others allow their news operations to be used by the White House for partisan political reasons. Based on my experience, I believe it is more a matter of business: Obama means strong ratings, and they will do almost anything to get him on their channel or network given the business he brings with him. NBC's special really did look and feel like a campaign commercial for Obama, especially when he took Williams out for mid-day hamburgers, but any embarassment the network felt was probably forgotten once the ratings came in showing that more than 9 million people watched each of the two nights. ABC will be using its White House exclusivity next Wednesday to try and boost all its broadcasts -- from *Good Morning America* to *Nightline*. From the network's point of view, why not? NBC News cashed in, why not ABC? And is it payday for CBS the week after that when Obama wants to sell another nation-changing proposal? It really is a cozy game that the White House is playing with the TV news industry, and it will be too late for us as citizens when some enterprising journalist (are there any left?) chronicles it in a book that is published two years from now. But wait, she or he will have to have access to the White House to get a decent advance, which demands its own kind of getting into bed with the administration. Perhaps, the best measure of how compliant the mainstream TV press has become is Obama's complaint Tuesday about having "one television station that is entirely devoted to attacking" his administration. Obama declined to name the "station" when asked by CNBC interviewer John Harwood -- what a childish, silly bit of gamemanship by a president. How could anyone not think it is Fox? When Harwood said he assumed Obama was speaking of Fox, the president replied, ""That’s a pretty big megaphone. You’d be hard pressed if you watched the entire day to find a positive story about me on that front." Given all the reckless and irresponsible words uttered by the likes Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity, I hesitate to write these words, but good for Fox. It must be doing something right, if it has the president complaining about the tiny bit of scrutiny he gets on TV. On the other hand, if Fox News is our last, best TV watchdog on the White House, then the TV press, as well as media critics like me, should be profoundly embarassed, and vow to start doing a better job -- immediately. Posted by *David Zurawik* <[email protected]> --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
