New White House Comm. Director: Fox News ‘Not A Traditional News Organization’

During a Monday video interview with the New York Times’ The Caucus blog, the new White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer, joined his predecessor Anita Dunn in declaring that Fox News Channel is not a news organization: “I have the same view of Fox that Anita had, which is that Fox is not a traditional news organization.”

Responding to a question by Times reporter Jeff Zeleny about Dunn’s feud with Fox, Pfeiffer explained: “They [FNC] have a point of view. That point of view pervades the entire network both the opinion shows, like Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly, but also through the newscasts during the day.” He went on to add: “We don’t feel an obligation to treat them like we would treat a CNN or an ABC or an NBC or a traditional news organization. But there are times when it would make sense to communicate with them and appear on the network.”

MediaBistro.com’s TVNewser obtained a response from Fox News to Pfeiffer’s comments: “Obviously new to his position, Dan seems to be intent upon repeating the mistakes of his predecessor... and we all remember how well that turned out.”