Rick Sanchez states the truth on CNN about just how bad ClusterFox is with getting a move up to the front row in the briefing room for the White House press corps. They didn't get Helen Thomas' seat, the AP did, but they still got a seat in the front row. Much to the horror of his cohorts Ed Henry who voted to allow Fox to move up and Brook Baldwin, Rick Sanchez does something I'll bet he's backpedaling on later, he tells the truth that Fox is not a news organization.
I read something a while back where Fox won a law suit and if memory serves it was from Canada and they won it because they said they were an "entertainment" network and not news. I keep wondering how they can keep the word "news" as part of their marketing after that happened but haven't had the time to look into it. Maybe some of our readers here can fill me in if they've followed it.
Anyway, here's the transcript of Sanchez's slam and Ed Henry's lame excuse for pretending like any of their so called "straight reporters" deserve their colleagues giving them a move up with their seating arrangements. To be honest the whole thing looks like a game of who's the most popular in high school to me in the first place. Where Helen was seated didn't matter a whole hell of a lot when the Bush administration refused to call on her for years. I would imagine it's not going to matter any more with Gibbs or whoever takes his place either.
The Villagers do love their popularity contests though, don't they?
Transcript via CNN below the fold.
SANCHEZ: All right. You have something going on with the White House?
BALDWIN: Something else going on with the White House. And Ed Henry is kind of going to trend with us.
Hey, friend.
HENRY: How are you?
BALDWIN: So this whole story, it is all over the Internet today. I woke up, and you, big-time White House correspondent, you get to sit in the White House briefing room, right?
SANCHEZ: Oh, this is the Fox story.
BALDWIN: Sure, Fox News, AP. And so Helen Thomas, she is no longer sitting in that front row center seat, the highly-coveted seat. She is gone.
So you are the big-time president of this board -- .
HENRY: Future president, but I'm on the board, yes.
BALDWIN: Right, right, right. So you're on this board and you have to determine who gets the front row center seat.
HENRY: Yes.
BALDWIN: And then -- so who got it?
HENRY: Fox, Bloomberg and National Public Radio were vying for it. All made strong cases.
In the end, Fox unanimously moved up to the front row but did not get the seat Helen Thomas was in. We voted unanimously to move The Associated Press over to where Helen Thomas was because what a lot of people were missing in this whole fight --
BALDWIN: And it is a fight, which is fascinating for those of us who don't understand the inner workings system.
SANCHEZ: I understand The Associated Press. I even understand Bloomberg. But don't you have you to be a news organization to get that seat?
HENRY: Oh. Are you saying Fox is not a news organization?
SANCHEZ: Yes. I'm just wondering.
BALDWIN: Was there not a whole Facebook page telling you not to allow Fox?
HENRY: There was. There was a lot of pressure campaigns on the Internet, who were not happy and didn't understand why someone at CNN would be voting for Fox.
The bottom line is I was wearing my board hat, not my CNN hat.
BALDWIN: Sure.
HENRY: I have the (INAUDIBLE) seat on the board. We look out for all five of the major U.S. networks, including Fox. In fact, we pool our resources with Fox when we travel around the world. And their White House reporters, regardless of what Rick may think about some of their other hosts -- I watch the program and I know who he likes and --
SANCHEZ: No, their day side stuff is solid.
HENRY: Major Garrett, Wendell Goler are all solid reporters.
SANCHEZ: It's some of the other shows in the prime time that are a little --
BALDWIN: So Fox has a front row seat?
HENRY: So Fox got a front row seat. Former AP seat -- AP moved over to where Helen Thomas was, because Helen Thomas -- it's not really the Helen Thomas seat. People mix that up as well.
She had that because she was the senior wire reporter at UPI years and years ago. And the center seat was reserved for the person who started the news coo conference, the first question to the president, and "Thank you, Mr. President" at the end.
So now the AP will have those honors and Fox moves up to the front. A lot of controversy about it, but there was all this jockeying.
BALDWIN: I think it's fascinating.
SANCHEZ: And you had a lot to do with that. Well done. You handled the pressure well.
HENRY: Well done? You didn't seem to like it.
SANCHEZ: Look at his hand. He's like oh, -- well, it's a story for another day. We'll do it then. Thanks.
HENRY: Thank you sir.
SANCHEZ: Appreciate both of you.
