Photo illustration by Jenny Livengood. Click image to expand.

When Obama asks for airtime, the networks (usually) give it

Broadcast news networks have expressed frustration over Barack Obama’s decision to deliver a prime-time address on health care to both chambers of Congress next Wednesday. Not only do stations have to shuffle their regular programming to accommodate the president; they lose millions in advertising revenue. Why do the networks cover presidential addresses at all?

It’s a tradition as well as a public service. The major networks—ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC—aren’t required to cover a major presidential address or news conference. But they usually do. If the White House specifically asks for time for a State of the Union address or for a speech from the Oval Office, networks will pretty much always grant it. Otherwise, the networks tend to cover prime-time presidential speeches that are especially newsworthy—for example, one that promises a new stance on health care reform. If the president were holding an East Room press conference and made no specific request for airtime, the networks would use their judgment about whether news will be generated. They aren’t likely to bump regular programming for live coverage of a run-of-the-mill political speech.

It’s part of a network’s mandate to cover presidential addresses and other news. The airwaves belong to the public, so in order to obtain a broadcast license from the Federal Communications Commission, a network must prove that it will serve the public good. From Slate https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2009/09/why-do-news-networks-cover-presidential-addresses-if-they-lose-so-much-money.html