I feel it's a good move for Obama, because he sees it as the time is ripe. Americans, for the most part, are tired and getting fed up on one sided B.S. Open and honest forums and debates are what we crave. When will the networks see this is the way to get real ratings? The answer has to be that they see the majority will look to nay sayers more so, out of ignorance and fear; and the media will lead the sheeples. They value ratings more than they do the country or ethical values. This in turn influences politicians who only want to be re-elected and go with the flow.
Maybe this has a lot to do with why our education system is failing us.

Fox news is no more biased than MSNBC and it's funny that CNN seems to be the most moderate news source atm. That said why would the White house favor Fox, Fox is the Republican fan club, aside from commentary I do think Fox does a reasonable job of fairly stating the news, I base this by noting that the facts I get and the stories covered are usually consistent with NPR's accounts of the day. I expect this White House to favor MSNBC the same as the last favored Fox and the only thing I see wrong with it is it reeks of collusion between the Press & the Government which means that one or both should be guilty of treason against the Constitution's 1st amendment. It bothers me that the FCC allows either channel to claim to be News organizations as they're both propaganda machines, I recall that once upon a time it was shameful to indulge in yellow journalism, I personally view it as an un-punishable crime. Cabin has a point linking it with education. I think that the system is failing because stupid people are easier to trick private schools are fine and so are many public schools out in the heartland and across middle class counties but what incentive is there to properly educate the disenfranchised? To help them rise up and challenge you? It had been made illegal in this country when we were still a collection of colonies to educate slaves because educated slaves had revolted in other colonies. So my big conspiracy theory is that the government & media are cooperating to create as many ignorant idiots as they can which boils down to being nothing more than racially indiscriminate "soft" slavery, I think it began during the US reconstruction. The hidden enemy's motto "Keep em stupid, fat & scared."

Hilarious! Such conspiracy theories have kept me laughing for weeks. As if shutting out one network from White House activities is the equivalent of silencing the news! They aren't invited to Obama's stuff. End of story. It's not like he sent in stormtroopers to pull the plug and keep them from broadcasting; furthermore, there are hundreds if not thousands of media outlets now thanks to satellite TV and the internet. It would be impossible to silence the media. As far as your treason assumption goes, you're guaranteed the right to free speech by the First Amendment. Obama didn't say FOX can't say what they want. In fact, he encouraged them to say what they want - they just can't get their information straight from the White House. That's all. Treason would be divulging the identity of an undercover CIA agent [BUSH *ahem*]. Even if you ignore the fact that FOX has an obvious conservative bias, it promotes and organizes anti-government protests. MSNBC and CNN may have a slant toward liberalism (as most journalistic organizations tend to), but they report negative news about the current administration. Maddow and Olbermann also complain about Obama for not being liberal enough and for not standing up for the Public Option or gay rights as staunchly as he should. FOX commentators think Obama should be impeached for anything and everything. The biggest difference is that no other news outlet is promoting or organizing anti-government rallies. That's the issue. FOX's love for neo-cons takes a back seat to the fact that they promote and organize anti-government protests. The American public has always been ignorant. That's why the Electoral College was established to begin with.

"The biggest difference is that no other news outlet is promoting or organizing anti-government rallies. "

this seems to me to be the ultimate justification to discredit a news source.
it's one thing to report the news, another to make it. (like picking a fight with the white house)

as for msnbc, yeah theres a bias, of course.