What Woodward is alleging is an outrage, but his journalistic colleagues will be able to find false equivalencies in which to take shelter and avoid confronting the White House over this inexcusable behavior. Who came up with the sequester and when does not enjoy quite the scandalous magnitude that the Watergate break in did. Secondly, Woodward will need powerful and influential allies in traditional media to speak up for his integrity. He will not find them.

When Roger Ailes and David Axelrod met secretly in a closed steakhouse in 2009 to negotiate the terms of a cease fire between Fox News and the Obama administration, the confrontation had been ongoing for months with few journalists displaying much discomfort with the situation. Anita Dunn and Valerie Jarrett insisted that the Fox News was hopelessly biased and should not be viewed as a journalistic outlet. Axelrod himself had regularly said that Fox “is not really a news station.” He now serves as a paid contributor for MSNBC.

These were not just words – the White House backed up their anti-Fox sentiment with actions. A study conducted by Smart Politics for the University of Minnesota released last month found that the president has called on Fox News reporters at press conferences less than any other broadcast news outlet. Only POLITICO, USA Today, and the Washington Post were called on less.