President Biden is sitting out the Tremendous Bowl for the second 12 months in a row.
CBS mentioned on Saturday that the White Home had turned down a request for Mr. Biden to take part in a televised interview with its information division, which might have aired within the extremely rated hours forward of the large sport on Feb. 11.
In a practice relationship to 2009, presidents have recorded an interview with the community that broadcasts the Tremendous Bowl, though there have been exceptions. Donald J. Trump didn’t seem on NBC in 2018. Final 12 months, Mr. Biden declined to seem on Fox, dwelling of cable hosts like Sean Hannity who’re sharply hostile towards him.
However the White Home has been receptive to CBS Information prior to now. The president was interviewed by the “CBS Night Information” anchor Norah O’Donnell forward of the 2021 Tremendous Bowl, and he participated in two prolonged “60 Minutes” items, in 2022 and 2023, with the correspondent Scott Pelley.
“We hope viewers take pleasure in watching what they tuned in for — the sport,” Ben LaBolt, the White Home communications director, mentioned in an announcement on Saturday.
The Tremendous Bowl, sometimes the most-watched telecast of the 12 months, affords an unusually giant viewers for a sitting president to deal with present occasions and advance his agenda to the general public.
And there may be loads of information for Mr. Biden to touch upon. Beginning on Friday, the USA carried out navy strikes in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. Three American troopers have been killed final Sunday in Jordan. The federal government simply launched a constructive jobs report. And Mr. Biden is ramping up his re-election marketing campaign as Mr. Trump has moved nearer to clinching the Republican nomination.
In 2021, Mr. Biden’s pregame interview with Ms. O’Donnell was seen stay by about 10.2 million viewers; tens of millions extra seen clips that aired on different CBS packages within the days surrounding the sport.
For this 12 months’s occasion, CBS provided the White Home about quarter-hour for an interview with Mr. Biden, with three to 4 minutes airing stay through the pregame protection on the community, in line with an individual aware of the discussions.
Mr. Biden has carried out fewer media interviews than his most up-to-date predecessors. The president’s final main community interview happened in October, with Mr. Pelley of CBS. His State of the Union deal with is scheduled for March 7.
Katie Rogers contributed reporting from Washington.
