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Morning News Shows Squaring Off

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The New York Times

Published: May 4, 2008

WASHINGTON - It will be a generational battle royal, the younger upstart against the more seasoned warrior who resents the challenge.

Sen. Barack Obama versus Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton?

Yes, there is that.

But another rivalry will play out when Obama and Clinton sit for competing hourlong interviews this morning. It is the one between their interviewers, Tim Russert of NBC News, who scored a coup by having Obama sit down with him on "Meet the Press" two days before the potentially pivotal Indiana and North Carolina primaries, and George Stephanopoulos of ABC News, who announced Thursday that he would interview Clinton on "This Week" at about the same time.

Behind the competition between Clinton and Obama has been an equally hot one for bragging rights in the hothouse of television news. A crop of old and new television stars have jostled fiercely to land interviews with the Democratic combatants at important moments of the race.

In the mix with Russert and Stephanopoulos are Bob Schieffer of CBS News with "Face the Nation" and Chris Wallace of "Fox News Sunday" on the Fox News Channel.

The Russert-Stephanopoulos duel presents one of the more intriguing rivalries, with parallel paths to the top of Sunday television. Both went from politics, in which they were aides to Democratic luminaries, to the pinnacle of broadcast news, as hosts of venerated public affairs programs.

Hosts Have History With Clintons

They also share something else: long and complicated relations with the Clintons that have sparked fierce criticism this year - often from the echo chamber of liberal press criticism on the Internet and sometimes stoked by the campaigns - that the hosts have been shallow or unfair in some of their questioning.

Stephanopoulos, who worked in the Bill Clinton White House as a top aide to the president, was attacked for being too hard on Obama last month in a debate.

Russert has frequently been accused of being too hard on Clinton.

The attention has combined to make them among the more scrutinized public figures in a year when news coverage is often in the line of attack.

"There is a lot of disagreement in the land about who's been fair to whom," said Dee Dee Myers, White House press secretary in the early Clinton administration. "So you'll have Clinton people watching to see if she's being treated fairly, and Obama people watching to see if he's being treated fairly. And neither side will feel like they've been treated fairly, no matter how fair those interviews turn out to be."

Talk Of Competition Denied

Russert's partisans scoff at the notion of competition, pointing to his continuing reputation as the defining presence on Sunday mornings and his solid place at the top of the ratings - the genre's Jay Leno to Stephanopoulos' second-place David Letterman, a title he trades back and forth with "Face the Nation."

Russert is said by friends to respect Stephanopoulos without viewing him as his broadcasting equal. But Stephanopoulos has gained new credibility this year with high-profile interviews and aggressive bookings, typified by his successful lobbying of Clinton for an interview after NBC announced it would devote its show to Obama.

"I think he has proved himself to be the Sunday show heir," said Elizabeth Wilner, who has worked for both men, at both networks. "If Tim decides to retire, he will be the dominant Sunday show host."

TELEVISION NEWS SHOW GUESTS

ABC's "This Week": Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.

CBS' "Face the Nation": Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind.; Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C.; Richmond Mayor and former Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder.

NBC's "Meet the Press": Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.

CNN's "Late Edition": Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; Govs. Mike Easley, D-N.C., and Bill Richardson, D-N.M; Robert Reich, former labor secretary; Gene Sperling, adviser for the Clinton campaign; Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y.

"Fox News Sunday": Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean; Joe Andrew, former DNC chairman; Clinton campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe; Carly Fiorina, adviser to John McCain's campaign.

Source: The Associated Press

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