Fox has decided not to air President Obama's first-100-days press conference this Wednesday—the only Big Four network to turn down the White House's request for time.
ABC, CBS and NBC have all announced plans to carry the president's appearance. But Fox today said: No go.
“The Fox Broadcasting Company will not air the Presidential News Conference on Wednesday, April 29 at 8:00 PM (ET)," the network said in a release issued Monday afternoon." Fox’s sister networks, Fox News Channel and the Fox Business Network will air the press conference in its entirety.
Fox will be alerting viewers with an on-screen graphic at the top of the 8:00 PM (ET) hour that the press conference is available on Fox News Channel and the Fox Business Network.”
It's unusual but not unprecedented for a network to decline to carry a major presidential event. Usually such moves come later in a president's administration, when networks believe the White House is simply playing politics with its requests.
However, Fox insiders note that the network also turned down President Bush's November 2001 request to address the nation. The network has also declined to carry several presidential debates.
The CW routinely refuses to cover presidential speeches.
Still, by not carrying the news conference, the Rupert Murdoch-owned Fox risks accusations of partisanship. However, it's like financial matters—not politics—were key to Fox's decision.
Pre-empting regular programs can cost networks several million dollars per hour. In the case of Fox, the show that would've been pre-empted—"Lie to Me"—is not a major hit. However, it is a young series that has been losing some Nielsen momentum in recent weeks and probably would have been hurt by another pre-emption.
(Editor: Baumann)
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Posted
Mon, Apr 27 2009 5:01 PM
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