Networks tune out President's primetime speech

NEW YORK -- The White House has no quarrel with the decision by ABC, CBS and NBC not to carry President Bush's speech about the threat from Iraq, press secretary Ari Fleischer said Tuesday.\n"The White House did not request them to do so, so I think it would have been unreasonable for anybody to suggest that they should have," Fleischer said.\nThe three biggest broadcast networks all said they routinely set aside time for a presidential speech when the White House requests it.\nWhat made Monday's speech somewhat unusual was the decision by Fox, after initially saying it would not air Bush's address, to switch gears and cover it. The start of the baseball playoff game between the San Francisco Giants and Atlanta Braves had been delayed.\nThe cable news networks -- CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC -- all carried Bush's address before a Cincinnati audience.\nThe White House decided last week not to request coverage so as to avoid three or four days of false speculation that Bush was going to declare war, Fleischer said.\n"The rumor-mongering would have become uncontrollable and it would suggest that war is imminent," he said.\nCBS News spokeswoman Sandra Genelius said the network received some calls from viewers complaining about its decision. Monday is routinely one of CBS entertainment's biggest nights in the ratings.\n"Our editorial decision was largely based upon the indications we got from the White House" that Bush would not be breaking major news, she said.\nNBC told viewers they could watch the speech on MSNBC. A small number of NBC affiliates took the MSNBC feed and broadcast the speech, spokeswoman Allison Gollust said.