White House Aide: Fox News acts like arm of the Republican Party

On Sunday, White House Communications Director Anita Dunn stated during an interview on CNN's "Reliable Sources" that Fox News operates as an arm for the Republican Party.

"The reality of it is that Fox often operates almost as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party," said Anita Dunn on CNN's "Reliable Sources" on Sunday in an interview. Dunn made reference to the Obama administration's belief that Fox News is oppose to the President and, therefore, chose not to participate in an interview with the news channel. "When he goes on Fox, he understands that he’s not really going on it as a news network, at this point. He’s going to debate the opposition. And that’s fine. He never minds doing that." However, the Communications Director stated that the President has made appearances on Fox News and throughout his Presidential campaign for the Democratic nomination. "But let’s not pretend that they’re a news network the way CNN is." This is not the first time that Dunn has publically criticized the Fox News channel. Last week, Dunn told Time, according to CNN, “We've got one television station entirely devoted to attacking my administration." And further added, “It's opinion journalism masquerading as news.” Fox News has responded to allegations and criticisms made by Dunn. CNN obtained a written statement by Fox News Senior Vice-President Michael Clemente, “An increasing number of viewers are relying on Fox News for both news and opinion and the average news consumer can certainly distinguish between the A-section of the newspaper and the editorial page, which is what our programming represents. So with all due respect to anyone who might still be confused about the difference between news reporting and vibrant opinion, my suggestion would be to talk about the stories and the facts rather than the attack the messenger . . . which over time has never worked.” Dunn is not the only aide within the Obama administration to make public statements regarding Fox News. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told a group of reporters, according to The Hill, “The best analogy is probably baseball. The only way to get somebody to stop crowding the plate is to throw a fastball at them. They move.”