Despite the rising crescendo of commentary on mainstream and social media in the run-up to U.S. President Barack Obama’s speech on immigration reform by executive action, almost ever major television network here sidelined the event in favour of their regular programming.
The “Big Three” networks, CBS , NBC and ABC raised eyebrows on Thursday evening, at least in vicinity of Washington’s beltway, when they along with cable news channels such as Fox News and CNN carried their regular programming, including shows such as “Grey’s Anatomy,” “The Big Bang Theory,” “Bones,” and “The Biggest Loser” and no live coverage of Mr. Obama’s high-priority policy announcement.
The most likely reason for their lack of interest, according to media watchers, was that the speech by the President might be “too overtly political to broadcast”, “bad for ratings”, and consequently “loathed by advertisers”.
Additionally the White House apparently did not make a formal request to the networks for airtime after initial feelers that it put out suggested that the latter were reluctant.
The one major exception was the Spanish-language network Univision , whose audience may have included many who would be keen to watch Mr. Obama’s delivery live.
Yet team Obama did not appear fazed by this less-than-warm reception for the President’s speech, especially as they continued to rely on social media such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to get their message across.
Published - November 21, 2014 04:50 pm IST
