Covering the State of The Union

Broadcasting & Cable's Marisa Guthrie takes an interesting and compelling look at the behind the scenes spectacle that is covering a state of the union speech.  This year, CNN is the pool broadcaster of the speech, with all the other networks taking their feed from CNN.

Guthrie writes;

For a State of the Union speech early in the first term of President George W. Bush, a cadre of Washington insiders was invited to watch the telecast at the White House. At one point, the television was tuned to CNN. There were voluble boos, says one person who was there. So the channel was switched back to Fox News, to cheers and applause.

Any editorializing in the television coverage of the speech itself—produced by the pool that rotates among the five television news divisions at ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and Fox News—may be in the eye of the beholder. But as the networks will rediscover when President Obama addresses the nation from the podium in the Senate chamber in the coming weeks, there is also great potential for messaging in telecasting one of the most storied spectacles in American politics.

(A tight senate race in Massachusetts, which could imperil the health care reform bill, is complicating the schedule for the speech. The State of the Union speech is traditionally on a Tuesday in January; Jan. 26 is one option, but a date later in February is also not out of the question. The administration has confirmed that the speech will not be on Feb. 2, when ABC is set to present the two-hour premiere of Lost. All of the networks will cover the speech, which begins at 9 p.m., as well as the opposition party's response. Fox plans to air an hour-long episode of American Idol prior to speech, as usual giving the president a monster lead-in that he has no hope of hanging onto.)

To be sure, the pool strives for and achieves objectivism. But the ideological divide in Washington inevitably imbues the proceedings with controversy. Veteran pool producers say they have never received complaints about their handling of the speech from administrations. And there are no guidelines—official or unofficial—designed to achieve parity in cutaways between the president's supporters and detractors.

Read more here.

Acknowledgements: Broadcasting & Cable