Town halls boost summer cable news

Fox News Channel cut away from President Obama’s town-hall meeting on health care reform Tuesday as he faced a far more polite crowd than has attended meetings hosted by members of Congress recently. CNN and MSNBC carried the session in full.

The loud public debates have been a tonic for cable news networks during normally quiet August. The audience for Fox’s Bill O’Reilly on Aug. 6 was a half-million more than on a typical evening this year, and he credited his network’s willingness to listen to health care reform opponents for helping bring in viewers.

The cable networks all covered a much livelier forum held Tuesday morning by Sen. Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania Democrat, in Lebanon, Pa. One woman, nearly shaking in anger, stood directly in front of Mr. Specter and said the reform bill “is about the systematic dismantling of our country.”

CNN called it a “town hell.”

The loud protests have dominated coverage and put the White House on the defensive. Nearly 60 percent of the time on cable and radio talk shows last week was spent on health care, much of that time debating whether the angry protests were genuine or orchestrated, according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism.

Mr. Obama gave an opening statement at his town-hall meeting in Portsmouth, N.H., then invited questions. Fox cut away after a couple of questions, which appeared to come from supporters of the president’s plan.

“The president has a town hall, and it looks like it could be a campaign stop,” said Fox anchor Trace Gallagher.

Fox analyst Tucker Carlson said there was “no way” the White House didn’t screen questions, despite the administration’s claim otherwise.

Mr. Gallagher and co-anchor Juliet Huddy interviewed guests and showed clips from the Specter session while the president was speaking. They noted that Mr. Obama’s full appearance could be seen on the network’s Web site.

“Any contentious questions, anybody yelling, we will bring it to you here,” Mr. Gallagher said.

Fox never returned to live coverage.

Mr. Obama seemed to invite tougher questions toward the end of the town hall. “I don’t want people thinking I just have a bunch of plants in here,” he said.

At the event’s end, MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell noted the questions were “not too challenging.”

On his top-rated cable news show Monday, Mr. O’Reilly touted the network’s coverage of the health debate. On Aug. 6, “The O’Reilly Factor” had 3.7 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research.

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