Liberal groups lobby to block Fox from Thomas's seat

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Politico:

On Sunday, the White House Correspondents' Association will vote on who gets the front-row UPI seat long held by Helen Thomas, and two liberal groups have come out urging the WHCA to vote for NPR instead of Fox.

Leading the charge is CREDO Action, a liberal activist mobile phone company that has gone after Fox in the past. The group launched a petition on Wednesday that reads: “FOX News is a right-wing propaganda operation, not a legitimate news organization. Award the seat vacated by Helen Thomas to NPR, which has provided public interest coverage of the presidency and the White House for almost four decades.”

MoveOn.org issued a letter to members supporting the petition, calling Fox “a tool in the right-wing propaganda machine.”

WHCA President David Jackson, of USA Today, declined to comment on the matter, and Fox News did not reply to a request for comment.

But NPR issued a statement Friday trying to distance itself from the petitions: “NPR would like to make it clear that we are not involved in any way in the petitions now circulating that encourage the White House Correspondents Association to select NPR for the lead White House correspondent seat…We have no position on the petitions, and no comment on the other media organizations that are competing for the seat.”

Washington Examiner's White House correspondent Julie Mason, a WHCA board member, jumped into the fray, telling FishbowlDC: "Smearing our colleagues like this isn't terribly persuasive. The reporters, producers and photographers from Fox News assigned to the White House are some of the best and well-respected in the business. Bloomberg, Fox and NPR made strong cases for moving up in the briefing room, I'm sure the board will have a good debate."

Becky Bond, CREDO Action’s political director, told POLITICO the campaign was inspired in part by the recent “partisan propaganda attack” on Shirley Sherrod, and “Fox News’ propagandist, false stories about Obama’s Department of Justice.”

The group decided to back NPR over Bloomberg because of NPR’s long history covering politics in D.C., she said.

The group has gathered 250,000 signatures on its petition in the last three days, she said, and overnighted boxes of the signed petitions to WHCA officers on Thursday.

“None of them have responded,” she said. “But we are hoping that when they get the boxes, they will respond, because we also sent a coupon for a free pint of ice cream."
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They call Fox News a propaganda machine. So what does that make NPR?

[pollyannaish]

Exactly WVR!

 

I have heard many very balanced pieces on both Fox and NPR. I've heard very partisan commentaries on both Fox and NPR. I am probably one of very few conservatives that like the stuffy style of NPR. It makes me angry sometimes though, probably in the same way that Fox makes the left angry.

 

But this fixation with Fox bias is ridiculous because the same venom doesn't seem to apply to MSNBC or NPR who are just biased in the "correct" direction.

[Casino67]

Exactly WVR!

 

I have heard many very balanced pieces on both Fox and NPR. I've heard very partisan commentaries on both Fox and NPR. I am probably one of very few conservatives that like the stuffy style of NPR. It makes me angry sometimes though, probably in the same way that Fox makes the left angry.

 

But this fixation with Fox bias is ridiculous because the same venom doesn't seem to apply to MSNBC or NPR who are just biased in the "correct" direction.

 

I read somewhere that MSNBC is changing their name to Microsoft Progressive TV. MPTV. Progressive identifies what they have been for a long time. Air America can tell them the success they will have with that format.

[Valin]

CREDO Action, a liberal activist mobile phone company

 

So this means they only sell phone service to those on the left?

[Valin]

Exactly WVR!

 

I have heard many very balanced pieces on both Fox and NPR. I've heard very partisan commentaries on both Fox and NPR. I am probably one of very few conservatives that like the stuffy style of NPR. It makes me angry sometimes though, probably in the same way that Fox makes the left angry.

 

But this fixation with Fox bias is ridiculous because the same venom doesn't seem to apply to MSNBC or NPR who are just biased in the "correct" direction.

 

I read somewhere that MSNBC is changing their name to Microsoft Progressive TV. MPTV. Progressive identifies what they have been for a long time. Air America can tell them the success they will have with that format.

 

 

Who ever get's the seat someone will not be happy.

[pollyannaish]

CREDO Action, a liberal activist mobile phone company

 

So this means they only sell phone service to those on the left?

 

Ha! Probably. And they monitor every call, just to make sure.