A rose among thorns: Mara and some guys, on Fox.
Beltway Confidential in cringing, wincing and girding for the hot wave of outrage that must surely follow Josh Gerstein’s piece about NPR pressuring White House and political correspondent Mara Liasson to rethink her frequent appearances on Fox News because the network is too biased. Notes Gerstein in Politico:
According to a source, Liasson was summoned in early October by NPR’s executive editor for news, Dick Meyer, and the network’s supervising senior Washington editor, Ron Elving. The NPR executives said they had concerns that Fox’s programming had grown more partisan, and they asked Liasson to spend 30 days watching the network.
Yikes, not that! It was Slate editor Jacob Weisberg who first called out Liasson for going on Fox, back in October during the White House versus Fox News dustup. Which looking back, now seems like the quaint relic of a simpler time, but there you go. Weisberg argued that Fox is essentially propaganda and that journalists shouldn’t enable the network by legitimizing it with guest appearances:
By appearing on Fox, reporters validate its propaganda values and help to undermine the role of legitimate news organizations. Respectable journalists—I’m talking to you, Mara Liasson—should stop appearing on its programs.
Like most diverting flare-ups, the Fox thing with the White House mostly went away (President Obama recently sat for a very cordial interview with Major Garrett) and as far as we know, Fox is on the list for the Christmas party. But maybe NPR didn’t get the memo? Liasson, who is under contract to Fox, declined to be interviewed for the Politico story.
Fox was typically punchy:
A Fox spokesperson declined to comment on specific questions about Liasson. However, the spokesperson, who asked not to be named, said in an email: “With the ratings we have, NPR should be paying us to even be mentioned on our air.”
(Adorable! NPR has about 24 million listeners)
