CBS, NBC Will Decide On Bush Soon

By Brian 

Updating yesterday’s post: “CBS, NBC and Fox all said they would decide sometime Tuesday whether to carry the speech,” Paul Gough reports. “Concerns centered on the potential newsworthiness of the speech and the fact that it was being given not in the Oval Office but far from Washington.”

Said one network exec who asked not to be identified: “You want to be certain you are broadcasting something that is newsworthy and vitally important to the American people.”

“The networks, unconvinced in initial talks with the White House late last week that the speech would be newsworthy, asked for more information. Sources said a conference call was held at 12:30 p.m. ET with officials from the Bush administration and the networks’ Washington bureau chiefs.”

> L.A. Times: “The White House may be billing President Bush’s speech tonight at Ft. Bragg, N.C., as a major national address, but not all the broadcast networks have yet decided to treat it that way. ”

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