Obama Met With Fox News Executives: Secret meeting with Ailes, Murdoch

[DeepModem Mom]

Source: Washington Post

ST. PAUL, Minn., Sept. 2 -- At a secret meeting with Barack Obama three months ago, Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes says, he tried to clear the air with the Democratic senator by saying that his organization was determined to be fair but would not be "in the tank" for Obama's campaign.

During the sit-down in a Waldorf-Astoria hotel suite in Manhattan that included Rupert Murdoch, the network's owner, Obama expressed concern about the way Fox was covering him. "I just wanted to know if I'm going to get a fair shake from Fox News Channel," Ailes recalled him saying. "Senator, you're the one who boycotted us," Ailes says he replied. "We're not the ones who boycotted you. Nor did we retaliate for your boycott."

The meeting appears to have eased tensions between the two camps, which began when all the Democratic candidates, complaining that the network favors Republicans, refused to hold any primary-season debates on Fox. After resisting invitations for months, Obama now plans to appear on Bill O'Reilly's prime-time Fox program on Thursday, the night that John McCain delivers his acceptance speech at the Republican convention here.

Ailes said in an interview Tuesday that he would never have discussed the matter publicly had Vanity Fair not published an account of the earlier portion of the meeting, in which Murdoch sat on one side and Obama and advisers David Axelrod and Robert Gibbs on the other. The article, based on a forthcoming book about Murdoch by Michael Wolff, says Obama told the Australian-born mogul that he didn't want to waste time talking to Ailes if Fox was going to keep attacking the senator and his wife and portraying him as suspicious and foreign....

***

Murdoch has a history of mending fences with political adversaries whom his news outlets have strongly criticized, from former British prime minister Tony Blair to Sen. Hillary Clinton. An executive familiar with Murdoch's thinking, who declined to be identified discussing private conversations, said Murdoch sought the meeting because he is fascinated by Obama but that the two still have serious policy disagreements....

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/02/AR2008090202730.html?nav=hcmodule

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Murdoch sees the writing on the wall

and realizes who the next President is likely to be. Can't afford to let Faux be out in the cold for 4-8+ years.

[democracy1st]

20. Rupert Murdoch Endorsing Obama here's the video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vbot--mk1U

[rusty charly]

2. "that his organization was determined to be fair"

That would require completely dismantling the channel, firing everyone, selling the network and starting over.

[BrklynLiberal]

5. hahahhaha, I almost spit up my dinner when I read that line, and then this one..

but would not be "in the tank" for Obama's campaign

They are only "in the tank" for repuke candidates...

[Heather MC]

10. Umm He is just trying to see if Obama can be bought off

"Owned"

[mucifer]

3. I think it's an ego thing

[bluestateguy]

4. Obama: "You guys better hope we don't win" (Well, that's what I wish he said)

Imagine this on January 21, 2009, just before the first WH press briefing:

The Press Secretary comes up to the WH correspondent (Carl Cameron?) with a buff Secret Service agent,

"Your press pass please. Agent Cooper will show you out the door. Permanently."

[Historic NY]

6. Murdoch and his vast RW media empire must be broken up....

its a propaganda network and a pox on America....a foreigner (so what he still is) having so much to say when others don't.

[meow2u3]

11. Pox News

We gotta send this one to KO.

[BrklynLiberal]

7. That sure implies that the boycotting did have some effect...Good.

They should continue doing it.

[Captain Hilts]

8. I cannot imagine the reaction here if Clinton did the same thing.

It's a smart thing for Obama to do.

[Liberalatus]

9. That explains a lot..

I was wondering why O'Reilly has been so insipid lately regarding Obama...
I guess he knows who pays the bills.

[EC]

13. Clinton did do it

Murdock even had a fund raiser for her...

[George II]

15. She did, but months ago before the nominee was chosen

Didn't you read the article?

[NoodleyAppendage]

12. Screw that. Obama you CANNOT TRUST FAUX. n/t

J

[Neshanic]

19. Agree completely.

[and-justice-for-all]

14. Dragon slayer indeed..

he walk right into the dragons den and looked them right in the eye! love it.

[0rganism]

16. "Nor did we retaliate for your boycott." -- how would we know?

How is their day-to-day GOPropaganda different from direct retaliation? Could we tell the difference?

What an odd thing for Ailes to say.

[LeFleur1]

17. Going on O Reilly?

Why would he do that? It won't do him any good at all and will probably do him harm.

[0rganism]

18. for Sen. Obama, it's a no-lose situation

Obama is a powerful speaker, and he's about a bajillion times smarter than OhReally. If he plays his cards right, he'll look real good. He may not win OhReally's support, but he might just get some respect and cred with some small percentage of a rather large (too large) TV audience, people who are exceptionally hard for him to reach otherwise.

That's worth doing in and of itself.

Furthermore, it shows he's not afraid of confrontation, he's willing to hear differing views, and that he's ready to lead all of America.

[kwolf68]

21. Murdoch is going to 'endorse' Obama

So as to 'prove' Faux News is owned by an 'objective' entity. It's a joke.

[CJCRANE]

22. I stopped watching F** News for good

after their coverage just after Obama's Berlin speech. ED Hill showed five seconds of the speech, then the screen went blank for ten seconds then Major Garrett came on and told us how no one had applauded and what a terrible speech it was.

[Ian David]

23. That meeting must have accomplished very little, judging from the DNC Camera Pool coverage from Fox.

[denverbill]

24. Frankly, FOX news should be banned from the White House if Obama wins.

There is only ONE network in the US that deliberately slants its coverage, and it ain't NBC, ABC, or CBS.

If FOX news wants to be partisan, then they should be treated as an arm of the Republican party and be dealt with accordingly.