Fox Nation: “Obama Hiding? No Press Conference Since July”

Fox Nation: “No Press Conference Since July.” On May 21, Fox Nation reprinted part of a Newsmax article headlined, “Obama hides from press: no conference since July,” and featured the following picture and caption on its front page to falsely claim Obama has been snubbing the media:

Kilmeade, Johnson previously criticized White House for not holding press conference since July. In February, Fox News' Fox & Friends also criticized Obama for not holding a press conference since July, with co-host Brian Kilmeade and legal analyst Peter Johnson Jr. claiming it was a “tactic” to “avoid hard questions.”

In fact, Obama has held numerous press conferences this year

Obama had held two full press conferences this year. Contrary to Fox Nation's claim that Obama hasn't had a press conference since last July, on April 13, Obama conducted a news conference at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, where he took several questions by the press. He held another on February 9, where he also answered questions from the press.

Obama has held at least seven press availabilities this year. Obama has also held several other press availablities since February, including the most recent one just two days ago with Mexican President Felipe Calderón, where both heads of state answered reporters' questions. The week before, on May 12, he had a joint press conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, and has had two other joint availabilites with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and French President Nicolas Sarkozy where Obama also took reporters' questions. Additionally, Obama talked to the White House press corps on April 28, when he made a visit to the press cabin during a flight on Air Force One.

Fox Broadcasting refused to air both Obama's April and July press conferences

Fox Broadcasting Co. declined to air April press conference. The Associated Press reported on April 28, 2009, that “Fox became the first broadcast network to turn down a request by President Barack Obama for time, opting to show its drama 'Lie to Me' on Wednesday instead of the president's prime-time news conference. Fox will direct viewers interested in the news conference to Fox News Channel and the Fox Business Network, which will both carry it." Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace later said that Fox News was “boycotted” because Obama didn't call on its reporter and that Fox was “right” to not air it.

Fox Broadcasting Co. declined to air July press conference. According to Mediabistro's TVNewser blog, Fox Broadcasting Co. declined to air Obama's July 22, 2009, press conference, instead opting to “alert viewers with an on-screen graphic at the top of the 8:00 PM (ET) hour that the press conference is available on Fox News Channel and the Fox Business Network.” Fox reportedly opted to air its regularly scheduled program, “So You Think You Can Dance,” instead.

Fox News hosts and guests previously complained Obama was “overexposed” after July press conference

Fox “All Star Panel”: “Is the president overexposed?” Two days after Obama's July 22, 2009, press conference, during the “All Star Panel” of Fox News' Special Report, host Bret Baier asked: “Is the president overexposed? Is he out there too much?” In response to Baier, Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer stated: “He's overexposed. He's a great rock star, but even rock stars can outstay their welcome. He should only go out there on his own when he has something new to say and dramatic. He didn't. I think it's -- the faith he has in his own eloquence, it's larger than the reality of his own influence.”

Cavuto guest says presser makes Obama “overexposed.” On the July 24, 2009, edition of Fox News' Your World, host Neil Cavuto said: “This whole thing kind of reminds me, though, of Regis [Philbin], you know? At first, that whole Millionaire show franchise, that looked huge. Once it started popping up every night, then it wasn't so huge, was it?” Cavuto's guest, public relations consultant Fraser Seitel, went on to assert that Obama is “starting to get overexposed. He's on television. It's all Obama all the time.”

S.E. Cupp: "President Obama has lost his influence. He is overexposed." On the August 13, 2009, edition of Fox News' Hannity, host Sean Hannity agreed after conservative commentator S.E. Cupp said “unfortunately, President Obama has lost his influence. He is overexposed. He is too many places at too many times.”

Fox News Sunday guests agree that Obama is overexposed. On the September 20, 2009, edition of Fox News Sunday, Wallace noted the “remarkable number of interviews that Barack Obama has given so far in his young presidency,” and asked Fox News Contributor Brit Hume “what is President Obama getting for all that exposure?” Hume said, “less and less,” and that he “risks overexposure.”

Dick Morris: "[H]e's obviously overexposed." On the September 21, 2009, edition of Hannity, Fox News contributor Dick Morris said Obama is “obviously overexposed but it's like Bush giving the same speech about Iraq. People just stopped listening at some point,” to which Hannity replied: “Yes.”

Hannity: Do Obama interviews make him “overexposed?” Later on the September 21, 2009, show, Hannity said to Republican pollster Frank Luntz: “Is Barack Obama-- and I'll ask you, through the prism of this analysis, that up to this point in this presidency, Bill Clinton did about 46 interviews, Bush about 40, Obama 124. Overexposed?” Luntz replied: “It's like penicillin. The first time that you use it, it has 100 percent impact. Each time you use it, it becomes less effective as the body develops immunity to it.”