I'm waiting to hear back from ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox broadcast about whether they will carry Trump's prime time address tomorrow night. The networks don't automatically say yes when a president asks for airtime.
This just in from a network source: "Time has been requested tomorrow night for 9p. Networks are deliberating."
TV exec texts: "He calls us fake news all the time, but needs access to airwaves… If we give him the time, he'll deliver a fact-free screed without rebuttal. And if we don't give him the time, he'll call every network partisan. So we are damned if we do and damned if we don't."
Five hours since Trump announced his prime time address, and CBS is the only broadcaster that has committed to carrying it. The others are still deliberating. Updated story here cnn.com/2019/01/07/med…
Update to the update: NBC, ABC, and CBS will all carry Trump's address Tuesday night. Wall to wall coverage of his pro-wall speech. Hopefully surrounded by fact-checking. cnn.com/2019/01/07/med…
For network execs, tradition and news judgment — "a presidential address from the Oval Office" — outweighed concerns about a speech filled with falsehoods. cnn.com/2019/01/07/med…
