Obama's Schizo Taming of the Media Shrews

"Engage and criticize: Obama's split media strategy" by AP's Ben Feller: "The White House's attempt to discredit Fox News as an arm of the Republican Party may have been getting the headlines, but it is only one recent window into Obama's already complex and crafty relationship with those who cover him. All of Obama's frustration comes as he not only welcomes the ratings-mad media's constant demand for his presence, but also aggressively seeks maximum exposure to serve his own agenda. He went on Letterman and Leno. He's held as many nightly news conferences in his first six months as George W. Bush and Bill Clinton did in eight years, and conducted far more interviews than either had at this point in their presidencies. He is the first Oval Office occupant to do five Sunday morning talk shows in a one day. In essence, Obama's strategy is not to tame the media to his liking or blame it for his troubles. It is both."

Except at NBC/MSNBC where Obama is catnip for the likes of Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow...

It's clear to me and others in the media that the WH divide-and-conquer strategy of isolating Fox News from the rest of the media gaggle has failed big time. Other TV network suits refused last week's round robin interview offering of pay czar Kenneth Feinberg unless Fox's Major Garrett was included.  The Obama administration had sent an email to the WH pool networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and Fox) pimping Feinberg but exluding Fox in the mix. 

LA Times Matea Gold notes today that Fox's ratings have exploded since Obama's Fox war surge: Bill Keller, executive editor of the New York Times, said that "if someone else breaks a good story, and if -- important if -- our own reporting backs it up, we'll run it. Even if it's Fox."

Los Angeles Times Editor Russ Stanton took a similar stance, saying, "We would follow any news story -- after confirming the facts and figuring out a way to advance it -- if we believed it was important to the readers of the Los Angeles Times, regardless of the organization or individual that broke it."

I say to Fox:  Mission Accomplished!