By
Brent Baker
March 16, 2011 - 11:38pm
"Despite all the troubles around the world" Sawyer rationalized - as if there's much evidence Obama, who's hardly been engaged in the Libyan or Japanese situations and who went golfing last weekend, is devoting much time to any of it - "the President kept his annual appointment to fill out his bracket for college basketball's March Madness. The basketball Fan-in-Chief got together with our sister network ESPN's Andy Katz."
Following a clip of Obama revealing a couple of his selections, Sawyer trumpeted: "You heard it here first. The President is going with Kansas!" Then, with "BARACK-ETOLOGY" at the top of the screen above ESPN graphics, Sawyer plugged: "And you can see all of his picks on ESPN's Sports Center and at ESPN.com."
A year ago [1], Sawyer devoted nearly two minutes of World News (1:50) to Obama's college basketball tournament choices. She teased at the start of the March 17, 2010 newscast: 'Top picks: Stream of consciousness as the Fan-in-Chief completes his college basketball bracket.'"
From the Wednesday, March 16 ABC World News:
- Brent Baker is Vice President for Research and Publications at the Media Research Center. Click here [2] to follow him on Twitter.DIANE SAWYER: And, despite all the troubles around the world, the President kept his annual appointment to fill out his bracket for college basketball's March Madness. The basketball Fan-in-Chief got together with our sister network ESPN's Andy Katz.
ANDY KATZ: All right, so Kansas versus Pittsburgh semifinal, who wins?
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA CLIP #1: That's Kansas.
OBAMA CLIP #2: And I'm going to pick Ohio State.
KATZ: Ohio State versus Kansas?
OBAMA: And I'm picking Kansas.
SAWYER: You heard it here first. The President is going with Kansas! And you can see all of his picks on ESPN's Sports Center and at ESPN.com.
