2008 Woodie Awards
Bush Is His Own "Fear Factor"
Network decision to bump president's speech with reality TV is artlessness imitating lifelessness.
Katharine Anderson
Issue date: 5/4/05 Section: Opinion
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Two of the networks - CBS and Fox - held out to the last minute, finally agreeing to air the speech just hours before its start time - figuring that surviving the public relations nightmare was worth the loss of their prime-time lineup for a night.
Many viewers paced their homes, cursing the powers that be that decided that Bush's message was more important than Joey's latest trials and tribulations.
This should have been a no-brainer for all parties involved. Our government, our economy, our country should always come first.
Even though Bush can be long-winded and rarely ever gets to the point, the public did vote him into office and should give him his time to speak.
At what point did prime-time television shows become more important than our country?
"I find it ironic that the major media would complain that Bush holds so few press conferences that when he does call one, the networks balk," said Tim Graham, director of media analysis at the Media Research Center. "They'd rather make money than perform some tiresome public service duty."
CBS and NBC couldn't help themselves and cut Bush's speech short, switching to "Survivor" and "The Apprentice" before the press conference concluded.
Fox determined that Paris Hilton was 'Simply' better suited for the public's attention than Bush's answer to the final question.
Bush acknowledged his time was running short, stating "I don't want to cut into some of these TV shows that are getting ready to air, for the sake of the economy."
Nice try for an elegant save, Bush.
Unfortunately, like almost everything else, it comes down to money.
"The networks are in a different kind of business than they were in the Nixon and Reagan years," said Martha Kumar, a political science professor at Towson University in Baltimore. "It is a business. News is less of a driver than entertainment."
Face it - most citizens prefer reality TV to just plain, old boring reality.
By interrupting the American viewer's escape, Bush's approval ratings may fall even lower than his current all-time low of 47 percent.
Maybe that'll finally get him voted off the island.
