Barack Obama appeared at Colgate University this week and suggested that barring news outlets from the White House was unthinkable, a direct response to President Trump’s decision to exclude CNN, MSNBC, and Politico from White House access. “I’m trying to think what would have happened if I had said, you know what, Fox News, you’re out of here! It’s unimaginable!” Obama told the crowd.
The remarks landed poorly with critics who pointed immediately to a well-documented episode from his own presidency. In October 2009, Obama’s White House mounted a sustained campaign to isolate Fox News, with senior officials publicly questioning whether the network qualified as a legitimate press organization at all.
Obama’s Team Called Fox News ‘Not a Real News Organization’
Communications director Anita Dunn went on CNN at the time and described Fox as “more a wing of the Republican Party” and “opinion journalism masquerading as news.” Senior adviser David Axelrod told other networks that Fox “is not a real news organization” and suggested they “ought not to treat them that way.” Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel made a similar argument, saying Fox “is not a news organization so much as it has a perspective.”
The criticism moved beyond words. Treasury Department officials arranged a pool interview with TARP compensation overseer Kenneth Feinberg and quietly tried to cut Fox out of it. A White House official wrote in an email, later obtained by Judicial Watch through a public records request, that “we’d prefer if you skip Fox please.” Deputy press secretary Josh Earnest later acknowledged they had “demonstrated our willingness and ability to exclude Fox News from significant interviews.
The other networks, including CNN, refused to participate unless Fox was included. Obama White House Fox News exclusion The White House backed down, but only after the attempted exclusion became public.
What Comes Next in the Press Access Debate
Critics noted that Obama’s 2009 effort was narrower than a full press ban but carried the same logic: treat access as a reward for favorable coverage and a penalty for critical reporting. His White House also skipped Fox’s Sunday program for an extended stretch and spent months signaling to other outlets that Fox did not belong in the same category as mainstream press.
The contrast between Obama’s 2009 actions and his remarks this week at Colgate is now drawing renewed attention to how both parties have approached press access when in power. With Trump’s exclusion of multiple outlets still in effect, the debate over what protections the White House press corps can expect, and whether norms are applied consistently across administrations, is likely to continue through the coming weeks.
