Obama's media tour continues with 'Letterman' appearance on Monday

President Obama’s media blitz shows no sign of letting up. As he pulls out all the stops to make the case for healthcare reform, Obama is planning to make the rounds this Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” ABC’s “This Week,” CBS’ “Face the Nation” and CNN’s “State of the Union.” He’ll also conduct an interview with Univision. (“Fox News Sunday” has pointedly not been included.)

On Monday, Obama tackles a different time period when he visits CBS’ “Late Show with David Letterman” – the first appearance of a sitting U.S. president on that program. But it should be old hat for Obama, who was Letterman’s guest on the show five times before taking office.

-- Matea Gold

Several ABC News staffers jumped the gun in tweeting Obama's 'jackass' remark [Updated]

Call it another case of being too fast on the Twitter.

The perils of dashing off observations on the microblogging site were brought into sharp relief Monday when several overeager ABC News employees -- including “Nightline” anchor Terry Moran -- rushed to tweet that President Obama had called Kanye West a “jackass" for interrupting Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards on Monday.

The problem: Obama made the comment during off-the-record chatter as he was being miked for an interview with CNBC anchor John Harwood.

How exactly did ABC News get wind of it? The broadcast network’s Washington bureau shares a network fiber line with CNBC, and so ABC staffers in D.C. watching CNBC’s feed heard the exchange. What they didn’t hear, apparently, was the explicit agreement CNBC made with the White House that Obama’s chitchat was off the record.

The president weighing in on the biggest pop culture story of the day was too delicious to ignore. Soon, e-mails about Obama’s comment began circulating internally at ABC. Before news executives had determined whether the material was publishable, Moran and a handful of other ABC News staffers posted the remark on Twitter.

“Pres. Obama just called Kanye West a 'jackass' for his outburst at the VMAs when Taylor swift won,” Moran tweeted. “Now THAT’S presidential.”

Bill Clinton returns to 'The Daily Show' on Thursday

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Bill Clinton will make his fifth appearance on "The Daily Show" on Thursday, when he will discuss the Clinton Global Initiative, Comedy Central announced today. Host Jon Stewart has given the former president ample air time to promote his foundation — Clinton has appeared on the program every September during the last three years before CGI's annual meeting in New York. The meeting brings together heads of state, business leaders, politicians and celebrities to discuss global challenges. Above, a clip from Clinton's first appearance on the show in 2004, when he discussed the tactics being used in that year's presidential campaign.

— Matea Gold

Obama's joint address to Congress draws 32 million viewers; MSNBC beats CNN [Updated]

President Obama’s make-or-break congressional address Wednesday night drew nearly 32 million viewers, 7 million more than tuned in for his July 22 news conference, the last time the president made his pitch for healthcare reform in prime time. But the audience was 39% smaller than that for Obama’s first address to a joint session of Congress on Feb. 24, which attracted 52.4 million viewers.

Most people watched Obama’s speech on NBC, which averaged 8.16 million viewers for the hour, while ABC had 7.4 million and CBS had 5.63 million. Fox was the only major broadcast network that didn’t air the address, choosing instead to proceed with the season premiere of “So You Think You Can Dance,” the third time this year the network has ignored a presidential appearance in prime time. The network averaged 6.5 million viewers for the hour and won the key 18- to 49-year-old advertising demographic.

Obama himself remarked on Fox’s slight today, according to Politico, but noted forgivingly that “So You Think You Can Dance” is “a show Michelle likes, by the way.”

Among the cable networks, Fox News was the big winner, averaging 4.3 million viewers during the 5 p.m. PDT hour, when Obama spoke, while CNN had 2.5 million and MSNBC had 2.3 million.

[Updated at 2:43 p.m.: According to new figures just released by Nielsen Media Research, a total of 32.1 million viewers tuned in for Obama's address. (Galavision was not included in the earlier data.)

Meanwhile, MSNBC scored a first Wednesday night, beating CNN in total viewers during a presidential address night. During prime time on the East Coast, MSNBC averaged 2.24 million viewers to CNN's 2.04 million. Fox News averaged 4.45 million during those three hours.]

-- Matea Gold

President Obama calls on journalists to live up to Walter Cronkite's example

President Obama today exhorted the media to live up to the example set by the late Walter Cronkite, praising the veteran CBS anchor for embodying the credo that “journalism is more than just a profession; it is a public good vital to our democracy.”

Speaking at a memorial for Cronkite, hours before he is set to make his case for healthcare reform in a high-stakes address to a joint session of Congress, the president lauded the newsman for “his belief that the American people were hungry for the truth, unvarnished and unaccompanied by theater or spectacle.”

“He didn't believe in dumbing down,” Obama told a packed hall at Lincoln Center. “He trusted us.”

Noting the toll that financial pressures have taken on journalism, he bemoaned the proliferation of “instant commentary and celebrity gossip and the softer stories that Walter disdained, rather than the hard news and investigative journalism he championed.”

“ 'What happened today?’ is replaced with ‘Who won today?’ ” Obama said. “The public debate cheapens. The public trust falters. We fail to understand our world or one another as well as we should –- and that has real consequences in our own lives and in the life of our nation.”

Obama’s remarks came as he has been facing the sharpest media scrutiny yet of his young presidency, particularly of his administration’s handling of healthcare. Despite the intense focus on tonight’s congressional address, which is widely viewed as his last chance to sell the public on the need for reform, he spent the morning at the 2 1/2-hour Cronkite memorial, listening to tributes for the journalist known as “the most trusted man in America.”

In his remarks, the president said he was confident that Cronkite would have been able to “cut through the murky noise of the blogs and the tweets and the sound bites to shine the bright light on substance.”

“If we choose to live up to Walter's example,” he said, “if we realize that the kind of journalism he embodied will not simply rekindle itself as part of a natural cycle, but will come alive only if we stand up and demand it and resolve to value it once again, then I'm convinced that the choice between profit and progress is a false one -- and that the golden days of journalism still lie ahead.”

-- Matea Gold

UPDATED: Dave vs. Sarah, Round 2

Don't look for Sarah Palin to be cozying up to Dave Letterman any time soon.

Palin said in a statement to Fox News.com Thursday that she and her husband "have no intention of providing a ratings boost to David Letterman by appearing on his show."

The snub came after the "Late Show" host held out an olive branch -- sort of -- to the Alaskan governor Wednesday night after upsetting her and her family the previous night with several jokes, including one that referred to her daughter being "knocked up" by New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez. Palin and her 14-year-old daughter Willow had attended a Yankees game. Palin's other daughter, Bristol, recently gave birth.

In an eight-minute monologue that was part apology, part clarification, Letterman simultaneously defended the crass nature of the jokes while denying the Palins' accusation that he was advocating having sex with an underage girl. He then invited Palin to come on his show, calling her "an absolutely lovely woman." He quipped that she and her husband, Todd, could come to New York as his guests, or "leave Todd at home."

The incident is the latest skirmish Letterman has had with political figures in recent months. He has clashed in the last year with Republican presidential candidate John McCain and Fox News host Bill O'Reilly.

Those conflicts scored headlines for the host, and this latest uproar comes at a time when he is locked in a seesaw ratings battle with Conan O'Brien, the new host of "The Tonight Show." Letterman is expected to respond to Palin's smackdown on his Thursday show.

Whether the talk show host does or not, Palin is slated to discuss the controversy on NBC's "Today" Friday morning. Stay tuned.

-- Greg Braxton

--Credit: WireImage

Obama won, now what does Maddow's future hold?

The left-leaning host of an MSNBC show sees a ratings drop, but remains committed to asking the tough questions.

When MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show" debuted during the historic campaign of Barack Obama, the program's ratings soared and made its host a breakout star on cable.

But as the president's administration nears its 100-day milestone, Maddow's show - like most cable programs that traffic in political talk and chatter - has seen its numbers cool. March was the lowest-rated month so far for Maddow with her numbers falling from an average high of 1.9 million viewers to just slightly over 1.1 million.

The road to regain viewers would seem an especially challenging one for Maddow. Politics, not to mention television, thrives on conflict, but how much of that will there be with a left-leaning host in a time of a left-leaning president? Maddow isn't worried.

"My job of asking questions and being critical doesn't stop depending on who is in the White House," said the 35-year-old host. "My main concern is keeping the quality of the show high. We don't debate the ratings very much."

Read more: Obama won, now what does Maddow's future hold?

-- By Yvonne Villarreal

Photo: Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times

Letterman/Blagojevich

In a kind of coda to an electoral cycle in which key battles were fought on the sets of comedy talk shows, and even as a movie about a television interview with a disgraced politician has been nominated for five Academy Awards, former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's self-exculpatory campaign train rolled into the Ed Sullivan Theater last night. I don't expect to see "Letterman/Blagojevich" up for any Oscars in 2039, but the real thing provided an odd half hour of television.

"I've been wanting to be on your show in the worst way for the longest time," Blagojevich told "Late Show" host David Letterman.

"Well, you're on in the worst way, believe me," Letterman lobbed back, having been served a straight line that was old the first time your granny heard it.

"For the life of me, I have no idea why this guy is here," Letterman had said, but that wasn't really so hard to answer. The ousted governor, who has also lately appeared on "The View," "The Rachel Maddow Show" and "The Today Show" ("and every other show that is in production currently," said the host), had, like most "Late Show" guests, something to sell: his version of whatever truth is out there. ("Go ahead and set up the clip," Letterman said before playing a not particularly incriminating bit of tape of Blagojevich discussing a contributor.)

President Obama to do network interview sweep today

You'd think there was a campaign going on.

President Obama has lined up interviews this afternoon with all three evening news anchors and their counterparts on CNN and Fox News, a media blitz that usually only occurs when the president has a significant announcement to discuss. But perhaps it's not surprising, considering how much Obama currently has on his plate: pushing the Senate to pass his stimulus bill, looking for a new nominee for Health and Human Services secretary after Tom Daschle pulled out today, fielding questions about the withdrawal of his candidate for chief performance officer.

It remains to be seen which anchor will extract the juiciest sound bite from the president.  NBC's Brian Williams, ABC's Charles Gibson and CBS' Katie Couric will broadcast their interviews on their respective evening newscasts. Fox News' Chris Wallace, who is conducting that network's first interview with Obama since his election, will air his conversation with the president at 3 p.m. PDT on "Special Report with Bret Baier." CNN's Anderson Cooper will show his sit-down at 7 p.m. PDT on "AC 360," with selected sound bites running on the network earlier in the day.

-- Matea Gold

NBC, ABC top inaugural ratings

The huge television audience that tuned in to watch President Barack Obama’s inauguration Tuesday flocked mostly to the coverage on NBC and ABC, according to Nielsen Media Research. CNN also scored strong viewership, beating its cable news competition and edging out CBS.

Between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m. PST, 37.8 million people watched the inauguration coverage on 17 different broadcast and cable networks, according to Nielsen. That made Obama’s inauguration the most-watched since 1981, when a record 41.8  million viewers tuned in to see Ronald Reagan get sworn in. It outstripped the audience for Bill Clinton’s first inauguration in 1993, which drew 29.7 million.

The actual viewership on Tuesday may have been substantially higher. Nielsen does not track television viewing outside the home, so people who watched Inauguration Day events in places such as offices, schools and other public venues were not counted.

Among the viewers recorded by Nielsen, NBC and anchor Brian Williams scored the largest share during the seven main hours of coverage, with an average audience of 8.7 million people. ABC, with its anchor trio of Charles Gibson, Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos, placed second with 8.4 million. CNN attracted 5.8 million, beating out CBS and anchor Katie Couric, who drew 5.6 million. Fox News Channel placed fourth with 3.6 million and MSNBC pulled in 2.2 million.

Viewership peaked between 8 and 9:30 a.m., when the actual swearing-in ceremony took place. Nearly 11.5 million viewers tuned in to NBC in that period, while an additional 11.1 million watched ABC. CNN pulled in 7.3 million and CBS had 7.2 million. Fox News followed with 4.8 million and MSNBC drew 2.7 million viewers.

-- Matea Gold

(Director Steven Spielberg takes photos during the inauguration ceremony of U.S. President Barack Obama. Credit: Bloomberg News)