Presumptive GOP Presidential nominee Mitt Romney has scheduled interviews with the “big three” broadcast networks, as well as Fox News and CNN today, two network sources confirm to TVNewser. The interviews will be conducted this afternoon, and excerpts are expected to run on the evening newscasts. The NBC interview will be the first that Romney has given to the network in 2012… unless you count his appearance on “The Tonight Show with Lay Leno” in March.
Update: All of the interviews will run at exactly 6:30 PM. Update 2: According to a number of Tweets, the embargo is now 6 PM so it will be online and on cable news then.
Romney has been facing criticism in recent days over his management at Bain Capital. Specifically, the exact timing of when he gave up control of the company. The interviews may be in response to that criticism.
Romney spent much of the GOP campaign avoiding interviews with outlets that were not Fox News, but with the campaign now in “general election” mode, his camp has been trying to appeal to as wide a net of voters as possible. As a result he has accelerated appearances on other networks. He spoke to ABC’s Diane Sawyer in April, and made a handful of appearances on CBS News programming in the weeks that followed. CNN also interviewed Romney a handful of times earlier this year. NBC News has not interviewed Romney since late-2011, though he has appeared on “The Tonight Show” and CNBC.
News of the interviews was first reported by Buzzfeed’s Zeke Miller and Politico’s Dylan Byers.