Hume falsely claimed Fox's coverage of Bush press conference topped other broadcast networks

Written by Nicole Casta

Published

Following President Bush's April 28 televised press conference, Fox News Washington managing editor Brit Hume claimed that Fox Broadcasting Co. was the last of the four major broadcast networks to cut away from the press conference to return to regularly scheduled programming. In fact, ABC was the only broadcast network to air the entire press conference, which ended at 9:01 p.m. Eastern time. In addition, ABC aired post-conference analysis until 9:28 p.m. In order to return to regular programming at 9 p.m., CBS, NBC and Fox all cut away moments before the press conference ended, with Fox being the last of these three to do so.

ChannelAired entire press conference?Press conference coverage ended at (ET):Post-conference analysis ended at (ET): Broadcast networks:


ABCYes9:019:28 CBSNo8:568:59 FoxNo9:00No analysis NBCNo8:569:00 Cable news:


CNNYes9:019:13 Fox NewsYes9:019:16 MSNBCYes9:0110:00

The White House had planned to hold the press conference at 8:30 p.m. but switched to 8 p.m. at the last minute in response to lobbying by NBC, which did not want to delay or pre-empt its 9 p.m. airing of The Apprentice, according to an April 29 New York Times article.

All three major cable news channels -- CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC -- aired Bush's entire press conference as well as post-conference analysis. On CNN, host Larry King's post-conference analysis ended at 9:13 p.m. when King switched to a discussion of the Michael Jackson trial. On Fox News, Hume's coverage ended at 9:16 p.m. and was followed by Hannity & Colmes, part of which focused on the press conference. MSNBC's coverage, hosted by Chris Matthews, ended at 10 p.m. and was followed by Scarborough Country, which primarily featured discussion of the press conference.

From Fox News' April 28 post-press conference coverage:

HUME: So, at just about one minute after the hour of 9 o'clock, the President ended this news conference. It's probably worth noting that the broadcast networks, who had agreed to carry it, had bailed out a little early ahead of him, with, I'm proud to say Fox being the last to do so. However, of course, all these things are always covered in full here on the Fox News Channel.