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Updated: 06/25/2009 8:37 AM KSTP.com | Conservatives Criticize President's Town Hall on Health Care
It aired exclusively on ABC Wednesday night. Republicans say it was an Obama "infomercial". Some outraged conservatives say ABC no longer stands for Americas Broadcasting Channel. They're dubbing it the All Barack Channel. That, after the network aired a series of broadcasts from the White House, including Wednesday's exclusive primetime special. The Media Fairness Caucus, headed by a republican congressman, sent a letter to ABC News claiming the networks town hall meeting gives Americans a slanted view on the presidents health care reform proposal. Political Analyst, Steven Schier says ABC's exclusivity is certainly unique. "It's really unique for a president to have an hour to basically make his presentation to the public, without a rival voice in the hour. That's a concern," said Schier. Many republicans do have a problem with it, saying it was an hour-long advertisement for President Obama to tout his agenda, especially since ABC hand selected the audience. ABC maintains the broadcast is no different than the two night special recently aired by NBC News or the 60 Minute presidental broadcasts aired by CBS News. "In a 24 hour period, you have a remarkable amount of coverage of the White House perspective by one network, so it's different in degree if not in kind from other network coverage," said Schier. ABC says the people asking the questions tonight were from a broad spectrum including republicans, democrats and independents .Visit ABC's website for extended coverage of President Obama's Healthcare forum. |
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