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| Networks wonât air Bushâs primetime speech |
| 2004-05-24 |
| The broadcast networks are not expected to carry President Bushâs primetime speech Monday night, in which he will lay out a âclear strategyâ for the future of Iraq. NBC, Fox and ABC will proceed with their scheduled programming for the 8-9 p.m. hour -- an episode of âFear Factor,â the finale of âThe Swanâ and the broadcast premiere of Oscar-winning âA Beautiful Mind,â respectively. NBC and Foxâs sibling cable channels, MSNBC and Fox News, will carry the speech. CBS is not expected to make a final decision on whether to preempt its Monday 8-9 p.m. comedy block -- season finales of âYes, Dearâ and âStill Standingâ -- until Monday but sources indicated the network was leaning toward sticking with its regular programming. At least one network, Fox, has offered the speech to any of its affiliates that wish to carry it. I could understand were he giving a speech about how widget-making will revive the economy in East Bumfuck, Nowhere. But heâs talking major policy here. And, yes, they didnât ask the networks to carry it. But I remember being a kid and suffering though endless press conferences and speeches on TV, no matter how meaningless they were. And a lot of people are forgetting that not everyone in this country has cable. So they donât even have the option. They canât lose one nightâs revenue as a public service? Edward R. Murrow is spinning in his grave. |
| Posted by:growler |
| #22 Edward R. Murrow is spinning in his grave. Hell, old Ed's probably been rotating on his horizontal axis now since the first Rangers parachuted into Osama's backyard. Even then, the fifth-column quisling traitor scumbags in the media were screeching the "Vietnam Quagmire" meme every chance they got. The bastards abandoned Murrow's tradition long ago...now their model is Walter Duranty, the NYT lowlife from the 1930's and 1940's who won a Pulitzer Prize for his decade of work as Stalin's biggest American propagandist. |
| Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) 2004-05-24 11:42:07 PM |
| #21 Chicago broadcast network affiliates during the speech: CBS - craptastic reality show NBC - craptastic sitcom ABC - movie of the week - A Beautiful Mind PBS - Had the speech (at least in Chicago) Fox broadcast - a really, REALLY execrable 'reality' show There must be an extremely high wall between the Fox broadcast network division and FoxNews. |
| Posted by: eLarson 2004-05-24 10:40:07 PM |
| #20 posted a link to the actual text, caught via powerline |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-05-24 10:11:17 PM |
| #19 But if a self-proclaimed Al-Q 'spokesman' farts in the wind its frontpage news on ' |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2004-05-24 9:51:10 PM |
| #18 Here in Texas, the local Scots community make haggis from the entrails of the famous Texas mastodon. What? You didn't know Texas had living mastodons? Sure, big herd of 'em down near Abilene, cloned from an ice-age left-over some starving Russkies dug up in Siberia. We traded a crew-cab Ford and two sides of beef for the embryos, then raised the calves at the A&M stock farm. Takes a lot of mesquite to roast one whole, but we got that too. |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2004-05-24 8:17:04 PM |
| #17 And now for our regularly scheduled programming - Heidi. [that ought to date a few of us!] |
| Posted by: Don 2004-05-24 7:56:19 PM |
| #16 Of course wouldn't it be interesting if the networks and their affiliates had renewal problems next time their licsence was up |
| Posted by: cheaderhead 2004-05-24 5:15:02 PM |
| #15 Lucky: UHF??? I vaguely remember a circular antenna for those "fringe" broadcast channels LOL |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-05-24 4:29:34 PM |
| #14 Haggis is made from sheep offal, specifically the heart, lungs, and liver. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2004-05-24 4:20:21 PM |
| #13 Even if the networks carried the speech nobody with a brain would be watching ABC, CBS or NBC. And their programing is so poor these days that even the sheep will be watching Sienfeld reruns on UHF during that time slot anyway. |
| Posted by: Lucky 2004-05-24 3:14:19 PM |
| #12 BigEd---That one #11 belongs in the "Classic Wish it were True Collection!!!" |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2004-05-24 3:03:53 PM |
| #11 Wouldn't it be sweet if he had a bombshell to drop and the networks were too busy covering contestants eating goat entrails? During the President's speech : . . . and my fellow Americans, I am announcing that we have captured and killed Abu Mussab al-Zakawi. We have removed al-Zakawi's head, pickled it, and sent it to the idiot father of Nick Berg. |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-05-24 1:55:47 PM |
| #10 The White House did not ask for network time as this is not considered a major policy speech. When requested, the president is given network time, everytime he asks. God forbid the networks should actually cover something without being asked. BigEd -- sheep. Haggis is made with sheep. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-05-24 1:43:57 PM |
| #9 Capsu78 - Goat Entrails? I thought that was used for haggis? Anybody Scottish out there? If not raw, and properly spiced, may not be that bad. |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-05-24 1:43:06 PM |
| #8 hmmm. im have to agree with you peples. it wuld be diffrent if it were american idol tho. |
| Posted by: muck4doo 2004-05-24 1:11:26 PM |
| #7 It is the first of 6 speeched between now and the hand off. I can actually live with the fact that it is not interupting the revenue producing May sweeps period. It maybe will take up more media space this way than an actual broadcast anyway since the papers and network news will be forced to comment on the content, instead of pointing out the POTUS speaking flaws. I won't "misundersetimate" that there is a method behind this set of speechs. Wouldn't it be sweet if he had a bombshell to drop and the networks were too busy covering contestants eating goat entrails? |
| Posted by: Capsu78 2004-05-24 1:06:09 PM |
| #6 Lookin' at the way he was banged up when he fell, the President is probably just as happy that is isn't getting a lot of TV time. It will be carried by lots of radio stations, and as long as the word gets out, that's what is important. |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-05-24 12:52:32 PM |
| #5 I'm with you, growler. every president in my memory has had EVERY "prime" time speech televised on the major networks, and this goes back to the days where they REALLY lost money because the networks were the only game in town. These jack-off networks choosing to change 50 years worth of policy during an election year in a time of WAR is despicable and a clear indication of which way their politics lean. I am disappointed with Fox especially. |
| Posted by: Chris W. 2004-05-24 12:32:04 PM |
| #4 The White House did not ask for network time as this is not considered a major policy speech. When requested, the president is given network time, everytime he asks. |
| Posted by: TomAnon 2004-05-24 12:27:27 PM |
| #3 Any bets that if KrashinKerry were to make a "major" foreign policy speech on primetime it would be aired by the "big three"? |
| Posted by: busybody 2004-05-24 12:25:27 PM |
| #2 Any bets that if KrasinKerry were to make a "major" foreign policy speech on primetime it would be aired by the "big three"? |
| Posted by: busybody 2004-05-24 12:25:01 PM |
| #1 You know, I wonder what the media reaction would be if the White House put out the word that no one in the Executive Branch was to talk to anyone except Fox News, MSNBC, and the other organizations that covered this speech. We could probably hear the wails from New York all the way out here in San Diego. |
| Posted by: RWV 2004-05-24 12:22:46 PM |