The President of the United States does a lot of interviews. Even George W. Bush, who was criticized for not being as open to interviews as his predecessor, could be counted on to do at least a couple dozen a year.
President Barack Obama is no exception.
The Washington Examiner counted up the number of interviews given by the President, and which networks he gave them to.
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The results? 25 to NBC’s networks, 16 to ABC, 15 to CBS, 8 to CNN and 4 to Fox.
An important asterisk: the “NBC ” numbers are inflated because it includes three networks: NBC News, MSNBC and CNBC. That said, most of those appearances were on NBC, rather than its cable brethren.
What is the takeaway?
Like his predecessors President Obama tends to give his interviews to the broadcast news divisions, which reach a far larger audience than any of the cable channels, and dont rely on opinion programs to fill up most of their airtime.
Of course, as the television audience continues to splinter, who knows how long the big three networks will remain the go-to place for Presidential oratory.