Obama did not criticize Fox News for not being “adequately favorable to him”

From the August 24 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:

GARRETT: As to the strategy now, I would say it's not a strategy now other than the one time the president mentioned it in the White House, when he was interviewed by John Harwood of CNBC, and he specifically labeled us as a network that wasn't adequately favorable to him. That was the way he put it.

O'REILLY: No, that's ridiculous. I mean, no network should be favorable to President Obama. It's our job to be skeptical of the powerful.

Obama to Harwood: “I've got one television station that is entirely devoted to attacking my administration.” During an interview with CNBC chief Washington correspondent John Harwood that aired on the June 16 edition of CNBC's Closing Bell, Obama did not criticize Fox News for not being “adequately favorable to him.” Obama stated, “I've got one television station that is entirely devoted to attacking my administration.” When Harwood interjected, “I assume you're talking about Fox,” Obama replied, “Well, that's a pretty big megaphone.”

From Harwood's interview with Obama:

HARWOOD: Last question: When you and I spoke in January, you said -- I observed that you hadn't gotten much bad press. You said, “It's coming.”

Media critics would say not only has it not come, but that you have gotten such favorable press -- either because of bias or because you're good box office -- that it's hurting the country because you're not being sufficiently held accountable for your policies. Assess that.

OBAMA: It's very hard for me to swallow that one. First of all, I've got one television station that is entirely devoted to attacking my administration. I mean, you know, that's a pretty --

HARWOOD: I assume you're talking about Fox.

OBAMA: Well, that's a pretty big megaphone. And you'd be hard-pressed if you watched the entire day to find a positive story about me on that front.

I think that, ultimately, my responsibility is to provide the best possible decision-making on behalf of the American people at a time where we've got a lot of big problems. And, you know, we welcome people who are asking us some tough questions.

And I think that I've been probably as accessible as any president in the first six months -- press conferences, taking questions from reporters, being held accountable, being transparent about what it is that we're trying to do.

I think that, actually, the reason that people have been generally positive about what we've tried to do is they feel as if I'm available and willing to answer questions and we haven't been trying to hide the ball.

Transcript

From the August 24 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:

O'REILLY: Now, see, this is a serious story, because, look, let's put it all out there on the table. Fox News is now the most powerful news organization in the country, and that means that we reach more people in a stronger way -- particularly in prime time -- than anybody else does.

And we're -- we beat Katie Couric in the demographic last week. We beat her in July. We're closing in on all of the other networks. And cable -- we just wipe them out.

Why then would the Obama administration want to have a testy relationship with us? And do they?

GARRETT: Well, they don't with me, Bill. Look, I'm the senior White House correspondent for our network and I'm very proud of the job that I have. I'm called on, on every single briefing. When the president has sat down for round robin interviews with all five networks, I've been in place just like everybody else.

The president has called on me in every single press conference he's had -- save for one, when we were immediately -- when we were basically punished for the broadcast side of our network operations -- Fox Broadcast not carrying that prime-time news conference live. I wasn't called on as punishment for that.

But other than that, Bill, that's been the only time that I've had to suffer. Look, there are people within the administration who take a very dim view of some of the prime-time shows on our network. That's been communicated to me. Not necessarily yours, but others.

And during the campaign -- I can tell you 'cause I was out there for the better part of 14 months -- down the stretch, as we were getting nearer and nearer to November Election Day, I heard at least once a week some riff from then-candidate Obama about Fox News. And of course, it was a red meat crowd pleaser. And, you know, I was either in the audience --

O'REILLY: OK.

GARRETT: -- or listening to it in the file center. I took it in stride.

O'REILLY: Now?

GARRETT: As to the strategy now, I would say it's not a strategy now other than the one time the president mentioned it in the White House, when he was interviewed by John Harwood of CNBC, and he specifically labeled us as a network that wasn't adequately favorable to him. That was the way he put it.

O'REILLY: No, that's ridiculous. I mean, no network should be favorable to President Obama. It's our job to be skeptical of the powerful.