The White House v. Fox News

The White House's ongoing battle with Fox News took an interesting turn yesterday, when the other TV networks stood up for Fox. When the Treasury Department tried to deny Fox reporters access to pay czar Kenneth Feinberg, the other networks -- who serve as both colleagues and competitors in the White House press corps -- refused to go along.

It's a good message for the White House: Journalists cringe at anything that smacks of censorship. And throughout this war of words, Fox has been hewing to its longtime contention that its news operation is separate from its right-wing stable of talking heads, and that its journalists are simply doing their job by asking tough questions of the president. I will vouch for the fact that there's a big difference between Sean Hannity and, say, Shepard Smith.

Of course, Fox has crossed into ethically shady ground by "covering" news its talk show hosts have created, such as the anti-government "Tea Party" rallies that became right-wing talking points for weeks. And I can't blame the White House for cringing at Fox News talk-show rants that veer into loony territory, and cross the line from disagreeing with White House positions to trying to delegitimize the government. Can we set to rest the question of whether Obama is a citizen already? Or whether Obama "has a deep-seated hatred for white people"? Glenn Beck even looks loco when he says that. He looks loco two-thirds of the time, in fact, which is precisely why he makes for weirdly-compelling TV. Yet however loco he happens to be, he still has First Amendment rights, and so do his colleagues on the news side of the fence. Which means this is going to be a tough one for the White House to win.

In other news, via Politico: Some conservatives want Fox News honcho Roger Ailes to run for president.

Updated: Ailes is declining to run. "I can't take the pay cut," he says.