does the pres. have the power to make stations cover his address or is it up to the stations?

Question

thanks, I was just curious as to how it works and who it is up to..

Answer 1

Most stations cover it out of respect, and Yes the president can take it over and force the Issue. I had seen footage of a press conference with a former president and when he went overtime the stations tried to cut him off, He said no and they complied so even though he did not impose the rule it was clearly understood.

Answer 2

It's not mandatory. But local stations will do it out of a sense of responsibility and obligation. There is a clause in their charter that says they have to broadcast things that are in the public interest.

They can no more ignore the State of the Union speech than they could not report election results. They could not do it. But there would be great loss of credibility. And that is something local stations can't afford to lose.

Answer 3

doesn't really matter,the stations are serving their own interests today .

with a job approval rating of 27% this president will be not looked at under a favorable light by the population but you will not hear that view during the Media event geared towards pushing this administrations unwelcome policies.

if there is one question I would like answered it would be,"Mr. President,seeing that there is no public support for your decisions to build up the troops in Iraq is it a concern for your administration ,that it could be seen as arrogant and self serving?

Answer 4

Any broadcasting network can be forced to carry any speech the president makes. That option is not used often. Mostly the it is only the over the air networks that carry presidential addresses and I don't know if all of them even will.

Answer 5

No, but most stations will because it is major news. The President can request time on all major networks.