In fact, that’s precisely what happened on July 22. Obama’s press conference bombed. Despite its live broadcast on all three networks at 8 p.m. Eastern Time, it lost its time slot to Fox’s "So You Think You Can Dance?," which doubled its nearest competitor in 18-49 audience share. Fox has been the unintentional beneficiary of Obama’s addiction to network television airtime: on April 29, Fox won the 8 p.m. time slot in the coveted 18-49 crowd with "Lie to Me," and the CW came in second with "America’s Next Top Model." Obama’s star power can’t even trump Tim Roth, Tyra Banks or the random guy who does the robot anymore.
So the Obama White House has to use personal cache in order to push the networks to program its propaganda. More than that, the White House has to use the covert threat of a cutoff in White House access for networks that refuse to play ball. The alphabet networks all know that the Obama White House has largely frozen Fox’s access to administration officials. They know that Obama grants his friends access while cutting off his enemies.
This endangers the independence of the press in a catastrophic way. The media has been excoriated -- and rightly so -- for its easy treatment of Obama and his cronies. But with Obama openly pressuring the networks to accede to its requests or face a reportorial cutoff, we are witnessing the hijacking of the First Amendment in toto. Obama administration officials are used to blackmailing private entities (GM, Chrysler, Bank of America), but they cross an even more dangerous line when they endanger the free press by linking press access with network time slots.
This is a horrific precedent. It is not difficult to foresee a time when an administration grants all exclusive access to one network while cutting everyone else off. Will the tough questions be asked then? Or will we simply see an ultra-sanitized version of events, pre-scrubbed by Rahm Emanuel and his ilk?