Susan Boyle trumps Barack Obama on network TV [Updated]
You know the president's political clout is declining when the networks balk at showing a prime-time news conference on a hot-button issue like healthcare.
The Fox network has said no outright, directing viewers interested in what President Obama has to say to Fox News Channel, while Fox goes with "So You Think You Can Dance."
And NBC initially balked when the White House announced that the news conference would be at 9 p.m., because it had put a lot of promotion behind a special episode of "America's Got Talent" featuring an interview with that surprise British singing star, Susan Boyle. Boyle, who tells NBC that her sudden fame felt like "a demolition ball," became an international sensation when her stunning performance on Britain's version of the program reached the world via the Internet.
So Obama, in what New York magazine called "a stare-down with an ephemeral reality-show star," actually bowed to network priorities and the White House rescheduled the thing for 8 p.m. EDT (5 p.m. PDT). [Updated at 9:14 a.m.: As one White House official told The Times' White House correspondent Peter Nicholas, the switch was made to "make it more likely that everyone would air it -- networks and cable."]
Not as convenient for West Coast viewers who might be, just a guess, caught in traffic at that hour. But hey, you can't have a televised presidential news conference without television.
True, presidential news conferences are hardly good lead-ins to boost ratings. Also true, as Time magazine pointed out, networks give up millions in advertising dollars to carry prime-time news conferences commercial-free.
Even more telling, the network reaction gives some hint of how Obama's star has dimmed as a magnetic television presence in the six months since he's been in office. Or maybe it just suggests that in the future, presidential news conferences will be carried live only by cable news networks that thrive on political fodder, leaving the networks to make money with reality TV shows.
But the thing of it is, what would Walter Chronkite say?
-- Johanna Neuman
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Is doesn't sound like the 15 minutes of fame for this sensational singer are over does it? And those that are tired of hearing of her - I think they're in for a roung time especially after the exposure in the U.S. today.
Posted by: cheesehead | July 22, 2009 at 09:24 AM
This just in, I think Walter 'Cronkite' and Michael Jackson are still dead. I think even Fox News might balk at showing Obama nation press conference tonight; Because, at least I know I turn the t.v. off every time they have some 'breaking news' that I really find to be a yawn fest. i.e. a president news conference or maybe Walter Cronkite being dead. I am sure he is a great guy but why do I need to care that he is dead after living a long, rich, successful life?
Posted by: Angel | July 22, 2009 at 10:40 AM
You go girl! Susan Boyle! I love you, this is your time to shine and you know what, you are not stealing it from anyone....Have fun, GOd Bless and I'm watching you tonight...............HA HA Obama!!! not on to anymore!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Helen Doon | July 22, 2009 at 11:58 AM
GOOD, I'M BURNT OUT ON SEEING OBAMA ON TV. I'M TIRED OF LOOKING AT HIM READ HIS TELEPROMPTER AND TELL US DIFFERENT LIES ABOUT THE SAME THINGS AND, HE'S NOT SOLVING ANY OF THIS COUNTRY'S PROBLEMS.
Posted by: We59 | July 22, 2009 at 02:09 PM
It's a big mistake for you to lump Fox News and NBC together here. Let's look first at NBC. You write that it "initially balked," (not refused, "balked") at the proposed timing of the Presidential news conference, because of its special episode of "America's Got Talent" with Susan Boyle. Whether we like it or not (and apparently we do), Boyle is a huge media star. This kind of show is the life blood of NBC. So it's natural that, for business purposes, it "initially balked" at the planned timing of the news conference.
Fox News didn't "balk," it refused to carry the news conference. Nothing in your post indicates that Fox tried to work with the White House on the timing, it just outright refused. Nor is Fox airing some special episode of anything, just its regular programming. Fox News is widely regarded as the propaganda arm of the Republican Party. Its political reasons for refusing to air President Obama's news conference are far different from NBC's business reasons for "initially balking" at the timing of the conference but then working with the White House to air it an hour earlier.
Posted by: Media Concepts | July 22, 2009 at 02:15 PM
I meant Fox Network, not Fox News. Same considerations though.
Posted by: Media Concepts | July 22, 2009 at 03:01 PM