Three of the four broadcast networks had yet to decide late Monday whether they would carry President Bush's speech on Iraq Tuesday in front of soldiers in Fort Bragg, N.C. By then, only ABC had said it would carry the address.
The White House formally requested an hour of primetime at 8 p.m. ET for Bush's speech at a time when public opinion polls show the tide turning against the war in Iraq. While there was no question that the cable news channels would cover the president's address, the broadcast networks were a tougher sell.
CBS, NBC and Fox all said they would decide sometime Tuesday whether to carry the speech. Concerns centered on the potential newsworthiness of the speech and the fact that it was being given not in the Oval Office but far from Washington.
"You want to be certain you are broadcasting something that is newsworthy and vitally important to the American people," said one network executive who asked not to be identified.
As opposed to the newsworth and vitally important programming they usually carry, like reality shows, sitcoms, and cop/lawyer shows.
But that might not be the only reason for the networks' holdout. While CBS was in repeats at 8 p.m., NBC was faced with the possibility of having to pre-empt or reschedule the heavily promoted original reality series "Average Joe: The Joes Strike Back."
How could America live without "Average Joe"? Given the way the networks have consistently pounded the administration on Iraq, I would think it only fair to give the president the chance to express his side of the debate, and that's exactly what the network news execs fear...both sides of the debate.
UPDATE: It now looks like all the networks will carry the president's address. I'm sure this really riles them, because not only will they lose ad revenue, but the president will get to tell his side of the story in front of a very friendly crowd.
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