MSM to Obama: Stop screwing with our ratings!

I guess Obama has to appease his base every now and then.

After some hesitation and a time shift, three major broadcast networks have agreed to carry Barack Obama’s latest primetime news conference.

The event was announced Friday afternoon as Obama battles to bolster congressional support for an ambitious health-care overhaul while facing dropping approval ratings.

But broadcasters are struggling with falling approval ratings of their own; Nielsen’s audience measurements show viewership in a summertime slump.

The conference will mark the president’s fourth primetime press event since he took office six months ago. Such interruptions tend to wreak havoc with network schedules and can cost millions in lost advertising.[...]

Fox declined outright to air the news conference. NBC and ABC fell into line late Monday after the White House shifted the event’s time from the previously announced 9 p.m. to the lesser-watched hour of 8 p.m.

The stakes were particularly high for NBC, which airs the most-watched show of the summer, “America’s Got Talent,” at 9 p.m. and this week, it includes a heavily promoted interview with “Britain’s Got Talent” singing sensation Susan Boyle.

Sources said that NBC demonstrated reluctance to carry Obama’s news conference live, and faced with the prospect of only one or two major broadcasters — CBS and ABC — covering it, the White House moved its start to 8 p.m.

Oh Dear! What a dilemna for Dear Leader! At least now we know he’s pragmatic – at least when it comes to delivering his message.