After getting to my desk and seeing word that Barack Obama had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, I turned on cable news to see the reaction. In particular, Fox News, the #1 cable news network and recent White House bete noire, whose reaction and coverage you might think would be interesting.
It was, mainly because—in the 9:00 ET hour, anyway—there was almost none of it.
At the top of America’s Newshour, Fox delivered a quick mention and a stand-up from outside the White House about the news, ending at 9:02. After that—with the news dominating other outlets, on TV and online—nothing. Crickets. Reports on the moon bomb, a proposed windfall tax to fund healthcare reform, and a Fox News reporter getting hit by a rock amid unrest in Jerusalem.
Finally, at 9:39, Fox anchor Megyn Kelly Juliet Huddy [thanks to TV Newser for the catch] mentioned the prize award for (I timed it with a stopwatch) 11.1 seconds. After which Bill Hemmer segued: “Hey, meet the guys who built a pumpkin cannon!”
To be fair, it was a really awesome pumpkin cannon.
At 9:56, another brief mention that Obama would be speaking within the hour. And that was it. I assume Fox will be on the story in more detail later—maybe they were just hustling to catch up with the breaking story—but it was at minimum weird. I’m on deadline for an unrelated story today, but will be keeping one eye on cable: feel free if you notice anything worth mention, on the cable networks or elsewhere.
[Update: By the way, Fox & Friends in the morning did mention the Nobel prize after it was announced. Meanwhile, the 10 a.m. newscast led with the moon bomb, followed by possible Democrats’ plans for a “second stimulus”; Stuart Varney on the federal budget deficit; 10,000 people applying for 90 GE jobs in Louisville, Ky.; House ethics committee expanding its investigation of Charlie Rangel; and at 10:08, the Nobel announcement. Foxnews.com, on the other hand, has the Nobel as its lead story as of 10:15.]