(June 24) - Republicans are attacking ABC for devoting much of today's news programming to President Obama's heath care reform plan.
'Good Morning America' featured an exclusive interview with the president this morning. Obama will return tonight for an hour-long "town hall" event moderated by Charlie Gibson and Diane Sawyer.
In response, the Republican National Committee is running an ad that begins: "Today a national TV network turns it airwaves over to President Obama's pitch for government-run health care."
Skip over this content
RNC Chief of Staff Kan McKay fired off a strongly worded letter to ABC charging that the network had decided to "exclude opposing voices on this critical issue" and arguing that the Democratic Party should have to pay for tonight's airtime.
"ABC News prides itself on covering all sides of important issues and asking direct questions of all newsmakers -- of all political persuasions," ABC News Senior Vice President Kerry Smith wrote back. "Like any programs we broadcast, ABC News will have complete editorial control. To suggest otherwise is quite unfair to both our journalists and our audience."
Sean Hannity is among those on the right who have joined in the fray, going so far as to declare "Journalism in America is dead." The Fox News commentator called tonight's broadcast on Disney-owned ABC a "Mickey Mouse sponsored infomercial."
"Oh, Sean," Sawyer sighed after listening to Hannity's broadside. "It is not an infomercial. ABC News does not do that."
“ABC has done town hall forums before,” Sawyer added in a telephone interview on CNN’s 'Reliable Sources.' She mentioned two programs that aired during the Clinton years. Although Sawyer said ABC "talked to the Bush administration" about the idea, it has never done such a forum with a Republican president.
Skip over this content
There hasn't been this much buzz about a network being "in the tank" for Obama since NBC was given exclusive access to the president for its 'Inside the Obama White House' special a few weeks ago. Conservatives said one scene from the documentary showed anchorman Brian Williams literally bowing to Obama.
The president laughed it off in remarks at last weekend's Radio and Television Correspondents’ Dinner.
"A few nights ago, I was up tossing and turning, trying to figure out exactly what to say," Obama joked. "Finally, when I couldn’t get back to sleep, I rolled over and asked Brian Williams what he thought."
