In 2010, President Obama said that Fox News had a point of view which was "ultimately destructive" for America. So the findings of a new study about Obama's press conferences are not too surprising.
The University of Minnesota's Eric Ostermeier tallied up the number of questions each member of the White House press corp had been able to ask during all of Obama's first term press conferences. ABC, CBS, the Associated Press and NBC led the pack, with ABC having been selected for questioning 29 times over 36 solo press conferences. (Overall, reporters have had fewer chances to ask questions than any White House press corps since Ronald Reagan's.)
It makes sense that the wires and broadcast networks have had the most opportunities to question Obama. They traditionally are the first to be called on at any press conference, and their reach is bigger than any other outlet.
Bloomberg — whose business-oriented audience would likely be one Obama wanted to target during the depths of the recession — was also a winner, being selected 20 times.
Fox News, though it has a reach that far outstrips its competitors and sometimes rivals the broadcast networks, was in ninth place on the list, having been called on 14 times. CNN, by comparison, was called on 16 times. Ostermeier said the network had been "shunned," which may be overstating things a bit.
When Obama has called on Fox News, he often winds up verbally sparring with its reporters in one way or another.
NBC's Chuck Todd and ABC's Jake Tapper (now at CNN) were called on the most of any reporters — they each got 23 chances to question Obama.
Read the full study here.
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