Howard Kurtz writes in today’s Washington Post of the moment Tuesday night when Sen. Barack Obama forced the networks to make a coverage decision. Seven minutes after all three cablers took Sen. Hillary Clinton‘s speech, they all switched to Obama’s speech and carried it in its entirety for nearly 45 minutes.
Kurtz quotes MSNBC VP Phil Griffin with his reason for the switch. “Obama won. You of course go to the winner. I’m sure the Clintons are disappointed, and we would have preferred to stay on her throughout her speech. But he’s the story.” he said.
CNN Political Director Sam Feist agreed. “We thought that was an appropriate way to handle it,” Feist told Kurtz. “We can’t always control the timing of what the candidates choose to do.”
• Related: Brit Hume‘s call to take the Obama speech…