For those of us that look to stay informed of current news and issues, there are numerous sources for information. Whether you are looking for local or national news there are outlets such as the newspaper, the television, and the radio. But amidst all of these sources of informational streamlines, there is one program that you may not be aware of. It is a weekly radio address from the one and only President of the United States, George Bush. This radio address is broadcasted every Saturday, to the nation, at 10:06 a.m. Eastern time.
The addresses from the president cover current news, news to come for the following week, and clarity to information that was previously distributed by major news broadcasts. No matter where the president is, he always has the broadcast on Saturday’s.
During these addresses, President Bush is supplying the public with more substantial information about his administration. But, I can almost guarantee that there are more people in the nation that have heard of Monday Night Football, before hearing of the President’s weekly address to the public. Furthermore, during no commercial break or newspaper headline have I ever seen or heard, “tune in to what the president thinks on Saturday morning…” If the people don’t know about these broadcasts, how are they supposed to listen to them?
At a time when there is a president that has been through two wars, two major hurricanes, two Supreme Court nominations, and one controversial CIA leak, is not being heard due to lack of advertising, sounds preposterous. White house director of media affairs stated that they do not even know how many of the 14,000 radio stations cover the address. There is also a loose estimate of how many people actually tune in. When focusing on the amount of citizens voting on issues and informing citizens should be a priority, the White House is not tracking the listeners. But we all know how many people tuned into American Idol or Survivor. How is the consistent update of information that has a major affect on all citizens not major news?
If the government and mass media controllers really wanted large groups of people to be informed, we all would know about the President’s weekly addresses. The types of people that already knew about these types of broadcasts, whether through conversation or some other type of channel, are clearly the people that matter to the President and his administration.
Greg Clay is a graduating Business student from Atlanta, GA. He can be contacted at gclay00@gmail.com