According to Allahpundit is containment.
The White House is working to prevent stories born on Fox from crossing over into more widely-viewed media. Most Americans still haven't heard of Van Jones, for instance; and the strategy is now all about containment
Both Fox News and commentators like Glenn Beck have been all over the number of communists and radicals in the Obama White House, and this is information Anita Dunn and Rahm Emmanuel are highly motivated to prevent average Americans from knowing. Given that Fox News's ratings, gigantic for cable, are tiny by network news standards. Once these stories are picked up by ABC, NBC and CBS, the exposure is far greater, which is exactly what the White House is concerned about.
As Allahpundit notes, Jake Tapper is the only non-Fox News reporter willing to ask WH spokesman Robert Gibbs the tough questions. It's plain that the other media outlets are already isolating Fox News under the false assumption that asking Teh One uncomfortable questions will get you banned or something.
Ideological solidarity only goes so far; as Axelrod himself acknowledged about FNC, ultimately the news nets are in business to make money. So here he and Emanuel are, leaning on them not only to ignore Fox but to ignore stories that Fox covers, as if the underlying facts are somehow tainted by association (“Let’s make sure that we keep perspective on what are the most important stories”). Creepy.
Much has been made about the media savvy of this administration, but there is a darker side to that savviness. It's called control.
|