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Fox News, White House communicating

Fox file photo (2006)

Shepard Smith has angered Fox viewers with some of his stories, including expressions of anger at the Bush administration's response to Hurricane Katrina.

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The Associated Press

Published: October 28, 2009

Updated: 10/29/2009 06:01 pm

NEW YORK - If the battle between Fox News Channel and the Obama administration is still going on, it has moved behind closed doors.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was saying little today about his meeting this week with Fox news executive Michael Clemente. Asked whether the tiff was over, Gibbs said, "I have nothing to add to that."

The White House meeting on Wednesday, first disclosed by the Web site FishbowlDC and confirmed by Gibbs' aide Bill Burton, comes after the administration said publicly that the network operates more like a wing of the Republican Party than a news organization.

Fox was also saying little about the meeting. When asked in an e-mail to comment, a Fox spokeswoman, Irena Briganti, referred to the Web site Politico.com, which reported the meeting had happened.

CNN prime-time host Campbell Brown was an unlikely source of support for Fox in her prime-time show Wednesday. She interviewed Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett and asked whether the White House considered left-leaning MSNBC biased as well. Jarrett wouldn't discuss the network.

She "seems loathe to admit that MSNBC has a bias," Brown said. "And that is where I think the White House loses all credibility on this issue."

If the White House wants to talk about bias in the media, officials "should elevate the conversation and talk about bias on the right and on the left," Brown said. "Because when you just target one side, you reveal your own bias — that you are only critical of those who are critical of you."

Brown, in turn, earned a tip of the cap from Fox's Bill O'Reilly, who said her questions were excellent.

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