White House Cites Opinion Shows as Basis for Fox News Complaints – Political News – FOXNews.com

White House Cites Opinion Shows as Basis for Fox News Complaints

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs refers to “Beck” and “Hannity” as the reasons why the Obama administration is criticizing Fox News. 

FOXNews.com

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on Tuesday pointed to two top-rated opinion shows on Fox News as the reason why the Obama administration has castigated the network as an illegitimate news organization. 

Gibbs weighed in on the controversy after several top White House advisers have gone on other channels to criticize Fox News’ coverage of the administration, dismiss the network as the mouthpiece of the Republican Party and urge other news organizations not to treat Fox News as a legitimate news station. 

Gibbs said White House officials “render (that) opinion based on some their coverage and the fairness of that coverage.” 

But asked how Fox News was different from other news organizations, Gibbs mentioned the channel’s 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. shows, in an explicit reference to “Beck” and “Hannity” — even though those two shows represent opinion programming. 

Informed that those hours are for opinion programming, Gibbs said: “That is our opinion.” 

via White House Cites Opinion Shows as Basis for Fox News Complaints – Political News – FOXNews.com .