We speculated it was just a matter of time before one or more of the broadcast networks rejected the President’s request for broadcast airtime and instead telecast it only on their cable networks. That time has come.
For the first time since Barack Obama took office, a major broadcast network is refusing to grant the president’s request for primetime coverage.
Fox has issued a statement saying it will air regular programming (Lie to Me) Wednesday night instead of Obama’s news conference.
“The Fox Broadcasting Company will not air the Presidential News Conference on Wednesday, April 29 at 8:00 PM (ET),” Fox said in a statement. “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 onscreen 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.”
via -The Live Feed.
Oooh, it’s on.
I can’t decide if this is a good thing or bad thing for Lie to Me. I guess we’ll see, but I definitely don’t see it coming in first this week.
Good Julia, we all know the on/off showing of Lie to Me caused its ratings slump.
Good on FOX, I guess they had the most to lose with Lie to Me dipping in ratings and it will give new viewers a chance to sample it. I wonder if it will affect ABC, CBS, NBC and The CW who will airing ANTM.
I liked LIE TO ME at first….but now I just think it’s ridiculous. So many of the scenes where the so-called “experts” figure out who’s lying are just too obvious, I could tell myself the person was lying. It just makes all the characters look like idiots.
I guess Fox was finally pushed over the edge. In retrospect, the last time Obama spoke was far more disruptive for them considering they had to shove both Idol shows back a day.
They are putting their foot down for Lie To Me? Hmmm… I dunno if that’s a real strong reason.
They always get decent ratings with Obama, why not just save an extra episode of Lie To Me for another week?
It makes no difference if they get “decent ratings” for Obama since they’re not generating any ad revenue from his speeches and his speeches are very poor lead-ins for the shows at 9.
‘Bout time. I thought this guy was a politician, not a celebrity wannabe. I don’t say this often, but good job Fox.
I’d be uber pissed if I had to miss LTM because of this media whore.
This can make a difference in the May Sweep race…
Are you being sarcastic, cool?
Chief, very true, but the audience will still be there for Idol. If Obama creates a good enough audience (maybe even better) than what Lie To Me generates, you have that much better a boost to Idol. Then save a new Lie To Me for another week.
I dunno, maybe my logic is off a little on this one, but I just don’t know why they went along with it last time with far greater consequences, but this time its somehow not worth it.
128boy, I agree about the rejection timing, but perhaps it was a matter of this being the straw that broke the camel’s back.
I’m glad Fox turned him down. How many press conferences does he need?
Bill, I think that has to be the only explanation. It doesn’t make sense any other way.
NBC, CBS, and ABC however have got to like this move simply because its on a Wednesday. CW is the only other net besides FOX that has something to lose in the 8pm hour.
Didn’t the last presidential address do about 4m on FOX, I guess Lie to Me is a stronger lead in for Idol than Obama although Idol doesn’t need a lead in strictly speaking.
Whew, I was really worried about missing those simpsons re-runs.
YES. I’m sick of his press conferences and maybe everbody else that is sick of them will give Lie to me a chance.
I for one respect him for being truthful and honest with America…Seriously guys chill out. Lie To Me is a good show though, and I actually respect FOX’s decision. I, actually, agree with the decision. IF viewers want to watch, they can tune in to one of the three other networks.
Not really Julia
I think this is good. While I support the idea of the President broadcasting these updates to us, I like the idea of limiting the # of stations he’s on. We don’t NEED to see it on EVERY SINGLE STATION every time he has an announcement. If it was something of dire importance or was important to national security or something then sure…put it on EVERY station. Otherwise, if it’s something we choose to watch or decide to wait to read in the paper/online the next day then we don’t need to be overtaken by the same annoucement on every station. That’s my opinion anyways…
We are still in the midst of the biggest financial crisis since the great depression and we are on the verge of world pandemic with the emergence of the swine flu, yet Fox thinks it’s a good idea to air “Lie to Me” and American Idol, instead of airing a presidential address to keep the nation informed…say what you about political loyalties and Fox’s insistence to show new episodes of “lie to me” to prevent viewership erosion, but there has to be a sense of civic duty to show the presidential address, when we have an emerging pandemic that could spread quickly and affect millions of people
Canadien, I’m not at all a fan of Fox News, but I really don’t think FOX the broadcast net is doing this for political reasons. The address will be freely available to everyone in the country whether it airs on FOX or not. I have no problem with Obama speaking to the country, but I also have no problem with FOX saying no. If Obama tries to squeeze another speech in before sweeps are over, I bet one more net follows in its wake (it depends which day it is scheduled for.)
I hope this doesn’t affect LOST. And real smart Obama Administration, flying Air Force One low in NYC for a photo op today. Ever hear of PHOTOSHOP?
p.s.:Watch Chuck tonight!!
Well what do we have CNN for, if everyone brodcasts the conferances.
I am so with FOX on this and it has absolutely nothing to do with LtM, but Obama seriously needs to learn the difference between immideate threat proclamating adresses and his weekly me-time press conference, which news channels might elect to broadcast live.
Get a grip, people, I remember how everyone mad fun of Hugo Chavez, because he was on TV every other week.
Allo Presidente!
I’m surprised without being surprised…
It’ll be interesting to see how Lie To Me does against Obama though, hopefully it’ll fare better than Pushing Daisies did.
On another note are these monthly prime time press conferences going to become a regular feature of the Obama Presidency? I wouldn’t mind that if they actually achieved anything of any real importance or significance but the last one just felt a lot like he was reminding everyone that it wasn’t a dream and yes you did elect a black guy President.
Fox playing politics! Not shocked it was that specific network which dissed an Obama Address….
Hmm, Fox rejecting to play Obama, who would have saw that coming?!?!?!?!
Would it be so hard for the networks to rotate a press conference, all four shouldn’t have to do it, with all the other channels and internet around.
Yeah, I guess an hour a month for a Presidential press conference on the public airways is way, way too much. Much better to have 5 hours a week of Jay Leno making small talk with celebrities in what used to be primetime.
I’d be more impressed if a network had a corporate sponsor for presidential addresses…imagine it now…”Fox And Coca-cola would like to welcome you tonight to a presidential address with…” “and remember to Get in the Zone, with the AutoZone rebuttal, given tonight by…” C’mon networks, show some ingenuity.
So I’ll watch the President on CBS and record “Lie to Me.” Doesn’t really change my plans other than having to remember to record “Lie to Me.” I’m guessing since they are going out on a limb it will be a new episode.
Wednesday is the 100th day of the Obama’s presidency so I’m guessing that Fox will be ignoring that too, right?
I am glad his time was rejected. He is on TV and newspapers we see his face all the time, we need the break.
Good for Fox. President Obama seems to want to have a press conference at least once a month (I think he is campaigning for the next election). As Fox has reported, you can watch the news cast on any outlet, plus I am sure you will be able to watch it online (hulu.com).
Regarding the Swine Flu…it’s the flu. It happens. The media is making this a bigger deal than it really is. The reason it has been fatal in Mexico is that they do not have the health care facilities like the US and Canada. I guess it will help the ratings. It will pass over time as long as those affected get the treatment they need, just like the normal flu.
i long for the glory days of bush. why should the president of the US talk to the people all the time or be questioned by the media? ridiculous.
This really isn’t Fox playing politics with Obama, they aren’t refusing to air a Presidential address, they’re refusing to air a Presidential press conference which is about nothing in particular and will likely descend into some kind of masturbatory haven’t my first 100 days been great celebration. If they were refusing to air a Presidential address about something important then it would be another matter.
Good for Fox! If only the other networks would follow suit. I’d be watching AI anyway but now I’ll watch LTM, too.
It’s unpatriotic. when the president asks for airtime on free over the air broadcasts you give it to him. I won’t say that I won’t ever watch fox again because I’d be lying, and I can’t say i won’t ever watch FNC again because i never watched it in the first place, so I can’t say its a bad business move but nonetheless I’m angry.
i think i disagree with most peeps
i think its horrible that the President has to ask for permission to address the public.
most people dont realize even his press confernces are corrdinated by the metworks unless its an emergency or preplanned like the state address.
its a priviledge they get to air
isnt it?when did it stop?
I don’t remember too much bitching from the liberals when the nets denied Bush coverage for quite a few of his press conferences.
Oh, but this is different, right? Check out any banana republic or dictatorship; the one thing you see on the TV more than any other single image is the face of the country’s leader.
Excuse me, I hear the DHS van coming up the drive….
just so you know im not a liberal
thought it was wrong then too
i always have
no president republican democrat or other should ever have to beg for airtime
thats got nothing to do with it
Jonathan says, “I don’t remember too much bitching from the liberals when the nets denied Bush coverage for quite a few of his press conferences.”
You’re speaking of a minority in the liberal/progressive movement. Moreover, I don’t recall Fox news refusing to air presidential news conferences when a Republican was in office.
Regardless, the networks get to use the PUBLIC airwaves for free. When the president calls, the only answer any public broadcaster should give is “Yes, Mr. President.” It doesn’t matter the reason for the conference or the president’s political party, the answer should be yes.
Finally, if someone doesn’t want to watch the president, they can watch the hundreds of other channels that aren’t on the public airwaves.
So…if he wants airtime every week, he should get it? Or every other week? Or every month? Because he’s the President? And to hell with the economics of the nets?
I don’t see any reason why any of the networks should be required to air a Presidential press conference in prime time and lets not forget that’s what this is, a press conference not an address. This is not the President addressing the country and delivering some kind of all-important national or international message, this is him answering questions on his first 100 days in office – what national importance does that really have that the major networks should be forced to accommodate him?
When the President has something of importance of significance to say then the networks absolutely should give him time to make sure the entire country has easy access to it but frankly this just isn’t one of those times. There are endless outlets that Obama’s press conference can air on there’s no reason why the networks need to carry it.
Jimmy, spoken like a true American patriot who has learned to sit up and roll over on command. “‘Yes, Mr. President.’” It doesn’t matter what the reason is, huh? Do as your told, then.
Obey.
It’s funny how you’re hearing more and more of that today (pay your taxes regardless of whether or not it’s fair; don’t question the President — just go along, disappear)…but it’s coming from the side that for the last eight years, was screaming just the opposite…. Funny, isn’t it?
yaaai)
thak u Fox!
luv “Lie to me” ^___^
Public airwaves my ass, broadcast TV is not free, it costs loads of money to broadcast a television program across the country, spending that money with no hope of gaining anything from it is bad business. It would be one thing if every network refused to show the press conference on both broadcast and cable, but seeing as FOX will be playing the PC on two of their channels, as well as it being on every other major network, why would anyone care if FOX would rather air their planned and paid for (advertisers bought the spots weeks ago, and I am sure are not happy when they don’t get their spots because of a monthly chat with the press) show.
Seriously, people who are “angered” by this need to go buy a remote so they can change the channel easily.
Of course Obama is their enemy – not as if they are going to let him on their screens if they can help it
fist
jonathan do you really see the president being on every week? cmon now
people wpould be upset and it would be detracting unless we were in a crisis
and alex
this flu thing has spread into our country
people are scared of it and its kinda important
in my view
also ecomomically alot is going on with alot of things
i for one want to hear whats going on
whats being handled and how
my point is less people will see as fox wont air it
on a normal channel
again i think thats wrong i always will
i agree with jimmy
yes sir when is all they should say
Who had that comment that made me laugh quite hard last night? Before it and all the other comments were deleted it went something like:
Comments closed in
5
4
Chuck
2
1
Fox not showing Obama? That figures. haha
I think it’s really sad that FOX and Rupert Murdock are playing politics with this. I for one am glad that we finally have a President that whats to keep the nation informed about the state of out country! Not to mention with the news of Swine Flu I think the country will tune in to see what the President has to say and FOX will regret it! It’s one thing for Faux News to diss the President because all they are is the PR outlet for the Republican Party, but for FOX’s broadcast network to do this is just showing their bias even more blatantly.
Thank you FOX!
Oh yeah, I forgot…
PIG FLU IS GOING TO KILL US ALL!!!!!!!!
Chet and Jimmy — you win. I give up.
I will say, “Yes, sir,” and nothing else when I’m asked to do something by our Leader.
And I will watch His press conferences because it is good for me.
heres something that someone just suggested to me
this is fox trying to gain viewers for lie to me
cos if they dont watch the pres they will be channel changing..
FOX is very smart to do that. like why cut into primetimes shows when they could show it on any other news channels. wish ABC would do the same thing but i doubt it.
jonathan
you and a network are diffrent
never do anything blindly
but the point here is wheteher the network should be able to say no
i think they shouldnt
has nothing to do with you personally
you have a remote
im talking about fox or any network specifically
The Swine Flu would be a good excuse if Obama hadn’t been planning this press conference for weeks now, if it were public address about the flu or if it weren’t being reported in every newspaper, on every website and on every news broadcast from here to China. Do people honestly believe you can’t possibly be informed about these things unless Obama airs a prime time press conference on broadcast television? Turn on the news, buy a newspaper or go online.
As I said previously if this was something important or worthwhile then Fox absolutely should air it but the fact is its not. And the idea that the nets should give the President air time for whatever he wants whenever he wants is fantastic – when Obama calls up the nets next week and demands time to give out parenting advice you’ll be all for it right? Or perhaps he should demand The White House be hooked up Big Brother style and that all the networks broadcast nothing but live feeds from within The White House 24/7?
Well…thank you, Chet, for steering me clear on that. And you know — you’re right, I’m not a network. And I won’t do anything blindly.
(jesus christ)
About time someone does this. I mean. do we really need the President talking on 11 different stations (ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, CSPAN, CSPAN 2, CNN, HLN, FOX News, CNBC, MSNBC)?
I wish more stations did this, because we never learn anything new anyway from the speeches. Good for Fox.
Big surprise. Of course it’s political. This is Fox and Rupert we’re talking about, after all. They’ll make sure Fixed News is all over the promotion of tea bagging, but a presidential news conference? No way will Fox air that one! Lie to Me is much more important than what the President has to say.
I agree that as good citizens we all have an obligation to be aware of the things going on that will affect our nation’s and our own welfare. Personally, I believe that it may be better to allow people to do that on their own schedule. Hasn’t it been the general practice of past Presidents to hold their PC’s during the day and have people learn of the content via the evening news broadcasts, morning newspapers and the internet? I worry that these too frequent prime time broadcasts will only serve to desensitize the American public to their importance should some truly urgent circumstances arise. I am already aware of the economic woes and swine flu threat from the other sources I mentioned above.
John McCain was right when he compared Obama to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, could this man be any more of an attention whore?
jonathan nicely said
….
im more concerned about the economy than the flu thing
more so now than ever before
perhaps that clouds my judgement
Nice Jessy, very true.
I never thought I would say this but good for FOX! How often do I need to hear this president speak during primetime? Just email us.
Good, there no reason to pre empt Lie to Me. FOX was probably already pissed when they had to move Bones around. And how many channels does the address have to be on anyway. CBS is now airing the address but has made some last minute scheduling changes accordingly. Hopefully ABC doesn’t air the address because I’d rather see the penultimate episode of Scrubs and the season finale of Better off Ted.
nice to see how ppl can put things in perspective… BUT on the interesting note, after skimming the 64-odd comments, nowhere did i hear any annoyance/sadness over missing their shows on Wednes. 8pm. i.e. ABC: Scrubs, CBS: New Adventures of Old Christine and Gary Unmarried, NBC: Law & Order Repeats
which is probably why all the networks (save FOX, where they hope LtM will be big) readily agreed.. wonder what would have happened had this been on a Thursday night at 9pm instead…
oh the irony.. i write that just after Dan posted about Scrubs… but anyway, Dan all the Networks save Fox (and CW) are broadcasting the address
Idizzle,
Oooo. I usually agree with your thoughts but, “Obama seriously needs to learn the difference between immideate threat proclamating adresses “–
is not one of them. Seriously people, TV viewing is NOT as important as the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, with hundreds losing their jobs weekly.
I say that as a LTM fan. If we are all out of jobs there will be no reason to discuss LTM’s slump, as the show WOULD NOT air!
But Andrea what is Obama going to tell you in a press conference that you don’t already know? Nothing.
Again if this was anything more than a random press conference to pat himself on the back for his first 100 days it would be different but its not.
hey alex
you seem to know what obamas gonna say
do your psychic powers work on other things?
like what the powerball numbers will be?
sry i couldnt resist
all in fun
johnathon, you don’t get it do you? Of course its our right and duty to speak against presidential policies we disagree with, and that could include, if we disagree, the policy of the president using primetime television to inform the American public. I don’t know why you’d think that’s anything but a good thing, but you can disagree with it and fox can disagree with it. But fox didn’t disagree with it for political reasons; they’re just trying to gain a competitive advantage for LTM by denying the president his request. It’s crass.
If the story went like this,:”FOX believes the president is spewing dangerous and untruthful propaganda; decides not to air press conference.” then it would be a different situation. Fox would deserve praise. But that’s not the story.
@dave
This is not a Presidential address – it’s a press conference. No other President has found it necessary to have their PC’s broadcast in prime time. And yes, we have had tough times before this.
I’m impressed by the comments about this topic, other comments should open up if people are respectful enough about this topic for all stories on this site. Well done.
I think it’s a pretty gutsy move for FOX broadcast to decline the POTUS. The immediate reaction, obviously, will be to shout about how unpatriotic and political they are (regardless of how much FOX reminds people where they can see the speech). Knowing full well the consequences, FOX broadcast chose to keep their schedule.
HA HA HA!!!
All fox channels should be burned…
I think Fox did well rejecting this broadcast…
I think NBC could be the number #1 network at 8 pm with this speech. LOL
i am going to watch Lie to me i dont want to hear him speak i mean i like him i just dont want to hear the neagtive stuff anymore i want to keep my mind off it so i am sticking with Fox on Wensday
This got awfully political awfully fast.
Anything with Obama in the title always turns into people bitching at each other. It’s annoying. It makes the commenters here, both the liberal ones and the conservative ones, look like overly sensitive morons.
It must be difficult for some people to realize that THIS ISN’T THE PLACE FOR YOUR POLITICAL ARGUMENTS! Conservatives, want to bitch? Go to the Daily Kos or something and spam that place up. Liberals want in to? I’m sure there’s plenty of Bill O’Reilly forums you could argue with people at.
This is a place for TV discussion. Not “holy crap, of course Fox would be the first to deny Obama!” or “Obama is always on TV so he must be Hitler!” discussion.
————————Rant Ends Here————————–
I don’t think Fox necessarily cared what Obama preempted. I think he could’ve preempted Cops on Saturday and they would’ve said no. I think they just decided they needed to set the precedent at some point and now was as good a time as any to do that. It’s definitely within their right to say no, it’s not unpatriotic, and as a guy who has actually written a paper in college about bias at Fox News I still feel good in saying that this isn’t political. The suits at Fox are just doing what they think is best for Fox.
Let’s not forget that Obama traditionally, thanks to his self-consumed nature, goes excessively overtime. You can’t push a live event like American Idol, especially one they sign professional performers to guest appear on for a certain time slot. And I suppose they’re tired of rescheduling their entire broadcasting week to hear this moron spout “Uhhhhhhh” for half-an-hour.
Jesse, I’m not so sure about that. To some extent you may be right, but FOX is really the only net that really has much to lose by putting Obama on. FOX is always fourth in the demo and viewers (usually by a large margin) with these things, which could end up hurting Idol. Plus they are the only network airing something that could be seriously hurt by yet another week off. (Whether LTM should be hurt by a week off or not is another question, but this would make the off-on schedule pretty much every other week for LTM.)
This really isn’t political AT ALL!
FOX made this decision because they don’t have news. There is no nightly FOX news. So they decided to let their cable nets keep it. This makes a lot of sense. I don’t see anyone jumping on the CW making stupid assertions that it’s political why they don’t air presidential addresses.
Why doesn’t Obama just buy, I mean take over his own network and air Barack tv 24-7. I can’t wait for all that exciting coverage of the presidential dog!
I think it’s a great idea. In fact I think that the best time to put reruns of new shows premiere episodes is against some big sport or political conference. There are plenty of people in the 18-49 who will be looking for anything, ANYTHING to watch that isn’t sport or politics. It’s a great opportunity to gain viewers who might otherwise not have given the show a go in the first place.
God knows I am frustrated when every channel is showing sport (cable TV here is nowhere near as inexpensive as it is in the US) or covering a natural disaster. I know they don’t want to miss out on showing the coverage that will inevitably pull a lot of viewers, but honestly, there are plenty enough people out there who don’t need to see minute by minute coverage, who are happy to just sit and watch 30 mins here or there to catch up.
Is there any word on how long the president’ s address is suppose to be or what the networks are going to do? I know alot of people don’t watch but this week is suppose to be the next to last episode of Scrubs and probably the last aired episode of Better Off ted and if they dont air this week i dont see either airing at all. And, a sidenote its just annoying becasue well for BOT itll be on DVD and thas fine but for Scrubs they always mess up the episode order on dvd if it isnt aired right and thats annoying.
Rob, my guess is that the press conference (not an address) is scheduled to take up an hour, but the nation’s mileage may vary.
Even though I partially believe FOX did this out of politics, I’m glad they did it. Those first two “conferences” were the most uninformative pieces of garbage I’ve watched this year. President Obama can’t answer the questions we want the answers to, so it’s pointless. Besides, anyone who really wants to see the president or know whats going on can easily find it out on the web. The only people that don’t have a clue are the ones that the President is trying to force to watch it during these monthly news conferences. I’ve got an idea, you want a primetime news conference, how about showing it during the nightly news? You already got the crowd who wants to be informed watching it and you don’t interupt the regularly scheduled programing for those who don’t.
T.V. is for meant for entertainment purposes. There are specific channels out there for education and news.
To quote Stan Marsh, “I go to school to learn, I go to movies (and watch TV) to be entertained, I wasn’t entertained, I want my money back.”
well i got my own answer my checking abc.com. gues not being too lazy has it merits. and ABC will be showing those episodes next tuesday at 8
Good for Fox! This president is more concerned with being an attention whore and giving speeches (or “joking” about the disabled than actually doing something to help the economy. I never watch his speeches anymore because you learn quickly that he never says anything of importance and instead is content to basically say, “Me, mememe, more me now!”
Thank you Fox! LTM is great.
I find this kind of strange since it seemed like obama shifted his speech to wed because everyone was complaining it was messing up their tuesday schedule — namely american idol. so why would they not air it — so they can air lie to me??? or maybe they just want foxnews to get higher ratings or maybe Foxnews wanted this since they are so anti-democratic.
on another note, why isn’t american idol going for 2 hours this week — two performances from each singer — they had enough trouble with 7 performances, now there are 10. Why rush the number one show in america and it also does get higher ratings when it does go to the 9-10 hour.
It will be LIE TO ME even if they choose to give Obama air time.
How much overtime is the American taxpayer paying the teleprompter? What kind of carbon footprint will this leave? Will Ed Shultz be in the front row? Can Obumma answer more than 10 questions in one hour? Same bat time, same bat channel…………
>>> I think it’s a pretty gutsy move for FOX broadcast to decline the POTUS.
Every post-Reagan president has had at least one request for network coverage of a primetime news conference rejected.
This is just newsworthy because its the first time it’s happened to Obama.
It seems as though the comments that were popping up on cable news articles before they were disabled are popping up here. Is it only a matter of time before comments are disabled on any article with any political connections?
TD, sadly we may need to do that, but I’d rather not.
Obama pre-empted KR on NBC in December, and its ratings never fully recovered.
Support the quest for season two of KR!
Good for Fox, if people want to watch Obama speak, they should watch cspan (I do).
You have fun with that quest nepps. I feel like it must be a very lonely quest.
This is definitely political! Anyone that denies that is just speaking out of their ass.
And although its political, and I disagree politically with Fox, I do agree with them not airing the conference. However, if this were a Republican president, they so would’ve aired it. None of you can deny that.
>>However, if this were a Republican president, they so would’ve aired it. None of you can deny that.
Err, FOX (and the other networks) didn’t carry a George W. Bush address during November sweeps – a month after 9/11, for crying out loud (despite the White House requesting coverage). And that wasn’t the only time.
This is a business decision, not politics.
If this had scheduled for a sweeps Monday, ABC (because of Dancing With The Stars) would probably have been the ones to tell the White House to shove it where the sun doesn’t shine.
To be fair glory Fox did turn down President Bush for the same thing in 2001 (Before September 11th obviously) so this might not be political…well totally anyway lol. I love how the far right goes after him so stupidly with charges of communist and fascist (the fact that this is a far RIGHT ideology doesn’t seem to matter)…it just turns the majority of the country away from them especially because he’s done nothing to deserve it. Come on people calm down the countries in a huge amount of strife & yea he may be over doing it a little bit with the press conferences but if he wasn’t on people would be at him for that. The economy seem to be (apparently) bottoming out so when things calm down a bit (and pirates go back to the 17th century where they belong!) things will go back to normal. It just tv guys people’s lives are being ruined atm and when people are scared they look to the big guy…its him and he’s stepping up.
My apologies InsulinJunkie I thought they would have carried it after Sept 11th. In hindsight they friggen should have!
D.R. Obumma? really is that the best you can do? the telepropter thing? You realise every other modern president used them right? Numb nut
Come on, the address will be carried by every other network, PBS stations, C-Span, and Telemundo. If Fox is not making the decision to potentially not preempt American Idol in favor of an unimportant press conference (considering the last couple of press conferences have run very long), that’s their right. We’re still in a capatalist society deep in a recession and you have to make money.
@Insulin Junkie: “Every post-Reagan president has had at least one request for network coverage of a primetime news conference rejected.
This is just newsworthy because its the first time it’s happened to Obama.”
“Err, FOX (and the other networks) didn’t carry a George W. Bush address during November sweeps – a month after 9/11, for crying out loud (despite the White House requesting coverage). And that wasn’t the only time.”
Thanks for injecting some reality here. I know this happened a couple times in the past, but I didn’t know these network rejections were so common, for lack of a better word.
I might add that this is “newsworthy” not only because it’s the first time it’s happened to Obama, but because it’s the first time a network was so overly politicized for making the choice to decline the POTUS press time. Anti-Fox-News types have another chance to spew hate at something, anything, named FOX. That’s why I think FOX broadcast decision makers are making a gutsy move here – they know they’ll be politicized, and they still made a business decision.
Thank goodness one of the networks finally had the guts to say “no” to Obama. It’s about time. We see him practically 24/7 everywhere; it’ll be nice to have an option to watch something else tomorrow night rather than simply turn the tv off, which is usually what I do when he’s on.
Why dont Presidents just do this between 7pm and 8pm and stop messing with the Primetime schedule?
This is simply a business decision by Fox Network. Most of the people who watch these conferences in this day and age, will watch them on the cable networks anyway. Now that Fox has taken a stand, I suspect that NBC may also in the future. CBS and ABC (who have not attempted to jump on the cable news bandwagon) will probably be forced to broadcast Presidential news conferences on traditional network TV.
Why would FOX air real news? How dare President Obama have a press conference what with this economic crisis and potential flu pandemic? I’m a lifelong conservative but we ALL know the radical right wing fringe has hijacked the Republican party and we all know FOX is in the business of FAKE News and they are showing their true colors.
Who cares. This is good news for NBC since they usually are strong in Prime Time Political coverage.
I don’t see how this is good for any other network. FOX is not competitive at all during these things usually, so this will hardly boost NBC (or ABC or CBS) ratings.
It’s a great time for Obama to speak— at the same time as “Lie To Me” is on! I trust the TV show more than Obama.
Doubling the debt for the next 10 years, crappy record of appointments, and much, much more ….
To GBD– YOU are a conservative? If you think Fox News is ‘radical right’ aand the GOP is ‘taken over’ by ‘the radical right’, then YOU are NO conservative. You use Liberal-speak, and have sucked up to the mindset, bias, and blindness of much/most the news media, and Hollywood.
FOX News has opinion shows like OI’Reiilly, Hannity & Beck (ALL great shows!), but that isn’t their news broadcasts. I DO hope you know the difference.
Hannity had liberal Combs on as Hannity & Combs until Combs wanted to move on. Now the LIBERAL has his own show on FOX radio. They have plenty of non-conservatoires as guests, etc. Rivera is not a true conservative. I hear plenty of different viewpoints on the opinion shows. O-Reilly isn’t a strict conservative0- he’s got gay adoptions, wants bigger gov’t than real conservatives do, has been softer on Obama on some things than others have been, etc.
You need to find out what actual conservatism is before you mislabel yourself.
Please to all- the mainstream media is biased to the Dems & Obama. They have covered him more, and more favorably then W (I didn’t vote for him, I’m not GOP or Dem, but conservative leaning moderate after being liberal leaning moderate for about 13 years), OR BILL CLINTON!
WATCH FOX News Channel for the news and opinion shows. We sure need the other side than that we are deluged with from the media and Hollywood.
Sorry, the so-called ‘conservative’ doesn’t want more than the liberal media’s view.
GBD- & all,
Also, do you think W. Bush is a conservative? If so, you don;’t know Bush enough, or you don’t know conservatism very well. He had SOME conserv. positions, but he passed almost every, if not every, spending bill in the entire 8 years, his bailout bill, and his pathetic non-existent ‘policy’ on illegal aliens are ALL NOT conservative positions.
The GOP got Bush 1, then Bush 2/W, they almost got Rudy G, but got McCain- ALL of those dudes are NOT conservative. The GOP went AWAY FROM conservatism in recent years- or more.
Please don’t give me the liberal crap that the GOP is ‘taken over’ by “radical right” people. That’s such a liberal talking point.
The smearing busswords are “radical” right, “hard” right, blah, blah, blah. That’s just liberal tactics for painting real conservatives as radical, when the Dem Party & Obama are radical on the left.
Look A LOT closer and wake up.
I’m not an American so it’s hard for me to understand why so many people watch these speeches. If my Prime Minister starts making bi-weekly speeches by the sexond time no one will watch him.
“there has to be a sense of civic duty to show the presidential address”
Actually no. Not every Presidential press conference is televised by the broadcast networks, regardless of the President. Or did you not notice how many times Bush spoke in prime time that weren’t covered by the major networks?
Obama is taking every opportunity to get on TV and tell us how much he’s achieved and how wonderful he is. The point of this press conference isn’t to talk about the “swine flu” or his inexplicable misjudgment about allowing a military “photo op” flyover in New York City yesterday (which scared the hell out of everyone) — it’s to commemorate his “100 days in office” and how much he’s accomplished. This was slotted in days (if not weeks) ago for that very reason.
It’s basically going to be yet another hour-long infomercial with ample tele-promptering. I don’t blame Fox at all — in fact, if he continues with his prime-time press conferences, Fox won’t be the last network to ditch his endless blabberings about “change and hope” and endless spending which will drive this country into debt for generations.
“Why would FOX air real news? How dare President Obama have a press conference what with this economic crisis and potential flu pandemic? I’m a lifelong conservative but we ALL know the radical right wing fringe has hijacked the Republican party and we all know FOX is in the business of FAKE News and they are showing their true colors.”
The point of this press conference ISN’T to talk about the flu pandemic and the economic crisis. It was scheduled DAYS ago because it marks his “First 100 Days in Office” and is merely a political opportunity to exploit what else is going on.
And no offense, but if you were actually a conservative, you’d probably know that fact….LOL.
It seems Arlen Specter USED to be a Republican as well. And the personal attacks here are typical of the lunatic fringe that is now the remnants of my former proud GOP. They prove what is wrong with Conservatism right now. AND NO I’m not a Dem. Never will be.
Sweet Moses this commments section has become as silly as the thinkprogress comments on the matter.
It was a logical business decision end of.
ugh this isn’t political at all. some of you people have obviously never taken a business class.
Fox and Fox News are two separate companies under 1 umbrella. They have different managements and different objectives.
Let’s take a look at walmart. Walmart has a US branch and a Walmart International branch. What the international branch does is different than what the US branch does. They do what every they have to to be profitable. What the US branch believes isn’t always going to work on the international level, so the international branch does its own thing. They are the same in name only.
Fox and Fox news are the same thing. They are both trying to be profitable. For FOX they finish 4th in the viewers and the demo when obama speaks. With Lie to Me they are giving a new show some stability finally and will probably get over a 2 demo and 8 million viewers. Plus with a speech there is no guarantee it’ll in at 9 pm and they do not want to delay their star show in American Idol.
So hopefully this crash course in separate business subsidiaries help yall understand a little bit.
“Lie to Me”. An Obama speech. What’s the difference?
If anyone was doubting “Lie” returning for a second season, this should put that to rest. If FOX were going to get rid of it, they’d have happily taken the crap that was served to them and used it as an excuse to bounce Tim Roth and company. Which they would probably do with a show like “Prison Break” or “Terminator.” But since Obama would never dream of scheduling a pointless “Aren’t I great?” celebration for a low-viewership night such as Friday, I applaud them for putting their foot down.
For those that posted that this is the first time the President was not shown on broadcast, they are either misinformed or partisans. Both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush had their speeches carried by some of the big three networks and not others (Fox didn’t have a news division until late in the Clinton administration so they were always spotty with covering the President’s live speechs). Nixon’s funeral was only covered by NBC live, which was the first time a president’s funeral was not covered live by all the networks; however, Jackie O’s funeral was covered live by all the networks less than a month later. The first time (to my knowledge) that the networks did not cover a President’s speech after he requested airtime was in 1988 by Reagan; and all three networks refused to cover it, not just one. Just thought I’d correct some of the misinformation (of course it’ll be ignored by 99% of you).
Obama has gone prime time crazy since taking office even before then so this was only a matter of time as I’m sure the networks were sick of him bumping their broadcasts. Frankly I can watch anything he says on cable or the net so what’s the point of him interfering with my TV schedule with something ridiculous like the Swine Flu or repeating the same mumbo jumbo he has been since he took office. Many people don’t know this but he does a weekly internet address in addition to multiple other public speeches.
Congratulations FOX!! How many stations do you need for this, anyway? It’s good
to see that there is some true independence in our media.
I guess we would get to see “Lie To Me” either way!
Okay, I was kind of surprised that this article did not contain the fact that the broadcast stations lose 10 million + in advertising every there is a primetime address… and isn’t this really the fifth time Obama has done this. There have been three press conferences and two addressing the nation things (right?). That means that every 20 days, Obama and his team ask the the networks to rearrange everything and lose money to boot. I would not be happy if I were one of them either….
Furthermore, in the AP article I read yesterday, it was reported that the Fox News Channel has more viewership during these sort of briefs. So it seems very logical (and smart) to turn down yet another primetime kerfuffle and stick with your scheduling because let’s face it, Obama is probably not going to get as many viewers as before. Obama conferences are not a “must see” or novelty because they happen every few weeks and contain nothing unknown before.
Furthermore, in the AP article I read yesterday, it was reported that the Fox News Channel has more viewership during these sort of briefs.
I think you must have read that wrong. FNC has the most viewers amongst the cable news nets, and FOX broadcast has the least viewers amongst the English broadcast nets, but FOX has had more viewers than FNC in each of these so far.
“The Fox broadcast network was the most likely to have made this decision. Unlike ABC, CBS and NBC, Fox does not have its own news division to analyze the event. Even though the broadcast network is in more homes, cable’s Fox News Channel traditionally gets more viewers for its coverage of these events than the Fox network.”
From Here: http://www.mcall.com/entertainment/sns-ap-us-tv-obama,0,5332805.story?track=rss
A loss of $10 million per network per interruption is not that much money.
But I do think this was a line in the sand, rather than an overtly political snub. Networks are trying to build audience loyalty to their shows. The president, on the other hand, is trying to reassure the American people and rebuild confidence in the economy. Contrary to what skimming this thread might lead one to believe, President Obama is extremely popular with the overwhelming majority of voters. But the nets can’t use him to sell candy bars. So why not reject the request outright in favor of cold hard cash?
…FCC regulations, a yet to be appointed copyright tsar, union negotiations, production tax credits….
Networks (and their parent companies) aren’t just granting the president a generous favor. They’re trying to curry favor with the administration as well. And they ought to be careful about grumbling too loudly when serving the public interest, especially in the midst of the worst economic crisis of our time.
And that’s precisely the issue, tammanycall. In an economy that’s deep in recession and contiuously losing viewers to cable and satellite TV every year, $10 million per interruption is a hell of a lot of money. The simple fact is in spite of having a good many hit series, Fox’s cash cow is American Idol. They pull in the highest amount of ad revenue on the nights it airs, both the performance and the results shows (the only show that pulls in more ad revenue for them is the Super Bowl, when it’s their turn to show it). In spite of assurances that the press conference was only going to be one hour, Presidential press conferences have a tendency to run long, which would eat into the airtime and ad revenue of the American Idol results show. And considering that American Idol viewers sometimes accuse the producers of the show of manipulating the results to get who they want to win, what would’ve happened tonight if the show couldn’t be carried live and a popular contestant got voted off, considering the show wasn’t ‘live’ due to the press conference running over? There would’ve been so many cries of ‘conspiracy’ and people alleging since the show didn’t start right at 9 PM EDT that someone could’ve fooled around with the tape and all that, it wouldn’t have been funny.
How appropriate that Fox runs a show called “Lie to Me” opposite “the Obama show”.
Intentional, or just cosmic karma, the irony is just too rich.
BTW: I haven’t wached Lie to me yet this season, but tuned in tonight just for spite. Good show, gonna’ catch it next week for sure.
Obama is simply in love with himself.
either way we were “lied” to! I crack myself up