Hi, everybody. Welcome to Smarter News. I wanted to jump on today to talk a little bit about

President Trump's national address that he delivered to the nation on Wednesday night. This was

expected in that the White House had announced it was coming. And it was important to note when we get an

announcement about a national address coming from any president, it is a signal to sit up and pay

attention because it can mean a myriad of different things. Occasionally, we'll see big announcements

made through a national address presented in the Oval Office that can shift the

way the public is thinking about a certain time or a certain topic. And when an administration

broadcast said they're going to have a national address, this is really as much an announcement

for the public as it is for the media, that, wait a minute, news is coming.

And if we look back, even just a few years ago when broadcast television was more relevant,

this was a signal to the major networks and the major cable networks as well, that something

is coming. And yes, it's during prime time, which is when we have the most amount of people watching and the

most valuable time on television because this is when our big shows are airing, but this is when

the administration has something to say. So typically that will change the broadcast network

scheduling, meaning that they will typically break into what would be their regular programming and bring you

the president of the United States. So when we see something like this, no matter who the president is,

we're going to pay attention. And that's why we did so at Smarter News on Wednesday night.

What we saw was a little bit different, I would say, than typical national addresses that we've seen in the past.

So I want to talk to you a little bit about the format. I want to talk to you a little bit about

the content. And then there was a reaction to this speech that I think gives us a good opportunity

to talk a little bit about editorial choices that are being made in general across the media

landscape and at smarter news that we should reflect upon

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