FOX vs. NPR Up-Date

stood up, they backed down. Because of your pressure, the White House Correspondents Association denied FOX the coveted front row center seat in the White House press briefing room recently vacated by Helen Thomas.  On Wednesday CREDO Action asked: Should the White House  Correspondents Association let FOX News have the best seat in  the White House press briefing room and the legitimacy that it  confers?  The answer from respondents was a resounding "Hell no!" In just four days, over 311,000 CREDO Action members and  180,000 MoveOn members — over 491,000 people — petitioned  the board of the White House Correspondents Association and  asked them not to give the best seat in the White House press  briefing room to the rightwing noise machine's key propaganda  outlet. Just hours ago the board of the White House Correspondents  Association met and decided not to give the seat to FOX. There was clearly strong internal bias towards giving the seat  to FOX. CNN reporter and WHCA board member Ed Henry  publicly pledged to cast his vote for FOX before our campaign  launched. And after CREDO delivered the first 150,000 petition  signatures, board member Julie Mason complained to an  insider DC blog that "the reporters, producers and  photographers from Fox News assigned to the White House  are some of the best and well respected in the business" and  furthermore accused CREDO of "smearing" her "colleagues."1 While it's disappointing that the seat did not go to NPR, at least  the board found a way to avoid giving the coveted front row  center seat to FOX. No doubt CREDO's pressure made a huge  difference. The country's most influential reporters need to  put journalistic principles before any kind of loyalty they  feel to fellow members of the elite club which is the White  House press corps. CREDO members' participation in this campaign helped  expose that choice. Every member of the WHCA board  received updates every day on the growing numbers who were  joining CREDO's campaign. When they cast their votes today,  they were well aware of how it would be perceived by the public  — and by the nearly half million people who spoke out during  the campaign — if they chose to legitimize FOX. We don't win if we don't fight. CREDO members fought back  by signing the petition, sharing the campaign on Facebook  and email, and organizing friends and family to join the fight,  and it made a difference. Thank you for making this  campaign a success. Of course, this is a symbolic victory over who occupies a  chair, but symbols do matter. Fox plays to win, and so must we.  This is just one among many battles to lessen the massive power  of Fox. Let'sl celebrate briefly and then CREDO asks you to  join together to fight again. Becky Bond, Political Director CREDO Action 1Group Raises Holy Hell Against Fox News Getting Helen's Seat  — They Prefer NPR to Fox News, MediaBistro.com, July 30, 2010.