An Interview With The President

Spending as much time at CBSNews.com as we do, we've been reminded pretty much wherever we look that Bob Schieffer will be interviewing President Bush on Friday. And it's definitely a big interview – the last time CBS sat down with Bush for an exclusive, long interview was in 2002, when "60 Minutes II" correspondent Scott Pelley spoke at length with the president about the Sept. 11 attacks. Since then, Bush did sit down for one-on-one interviews with the White House correspondents from each network – including CBS' John Roberts – shortly before the inauguration of his second term. But you'll probably recall that his most recent exclusive interview with one of the networks was with NBC "Nightly News" anchor Brian Williams just last month. ABC last interviewed the president extensively in September, when Diane Sawyer had an exclusive for "Good Morning America."

Of course, presidents know that they can grant an interview to any network they want, whenever they want, so it's pretty much up to them how much of that sort of media action they see. That got us wondering -- how many interviews has President Bush given to the big three networks since he took office? And how does that compare to former President Bill Clinton's face time during office?

I did a little Nexis searching – well, a lot actually, my eyes are crossed now – to try and get an idea. I searched transcripts from the networks and – on White House correspondent/facts guru Mark Knoller's advice – a database called the "Public Papers of the Presidents," which holds some full transcripts of interviews, or just notes in press digests that they took place. I'm sure I've missed some along the way, but according to my search, Bush has granted about 25 interviews to the networks so far, a little over a year into his second term. As for Clinton, my search revealed that after two terms, he had granted about 46 interviews to ABC, NBC and CBS (that's probably a low number, because transcripts for NBC aren't available on Nexis before 1997, so my information for that network from 1993 through 1996 came from the "Public Papers," which don't appear offer as much information as the transcripts.)

To mark certain events, such as Bush's first and second inaugurals and his first 100 days in office, all the networks were granted interviews. Overall, Bush's interviews on the networks break down much like the ratings for each news division – NBC has conducted the most, then ABC, then CBS. During his presidency, Clinton was interviewed on CBS News broadcasts more often than ABC or NBC – mostly by CBS' Dan Rather, who has not interviewed Bush during his presidency.

Both have appeared on "60 Minutes" during their presidencies – Bush on "60 Minutes II" and Clinton five times on either broadcast, according to my count. Both have also done interviews with Tim Russert on "Meet the Press," and both first couples have been interviewed by Barbara Walters for "20/20" specials. NBC's Ron Insana has talked economics with both presidents for the "Nightly News" – twice with Bush. Leonardo DiCaprio interviewed President Clinton for ABC News about the environment in 2000, but following the flak the network took after that, it seems unlikely he'll interview Bush.

Again, I wouldn't consider this a complete search, but more of a thumbnail look at what both presidents have done. Of course, if you notice any glaring errors in what I've found…let us know in comments or via e-mail.