NEW YORK: The Fox Network will not air the president’s news conference this evening, The New York Times reported. Fox said it will instead carry its new drama, “Lie to Me,” as originally scheduled. The decision is said to be the first by a major broadcast network to not carry a presidential press conference.
Tonight’s press conference, scheduled for 8 p.m., will be the third one of Barack Obama’s presidency, and marks his first 100 days in office. ABC, CBS and NBC as well as several cable networks will carry it. Fox told The Times the network would run a screen graphic letting viewers know that the press conference is being carried its cable nets, Fox News and Fox Business.
Networks aren’t required to carry presidential press conferences, but most do out of public-interest obligations. Lisa de Moraes of the Washington Post reported last week that the pre-emption could cost the big networks as much as $10 million in ad revenues. The time period coincides with the beginning of the May sweeps rating period. -- Deborah D. McAdams
