President Obama and Conan O’Brien spoke during the 10-11 PM hour, and sure enough that is when tune-in was highest. CNN led the way with 1.49 million viewers, including 401,000 adults 25-54. Fox News drew 1.11 million viewers, including 183,000 A25-54, while MSNBC drew 640,000 total viewers, including 176,000 A25-54.

It is important to note that these numbers do not include anyone watching online, nor do they include C-SPAN, which is not rated by Nielsen. We can safely say that at least 3.5 million people watched the speeches live, all told.

From 9-10 PM, when the channels previewed the dinner (and when Ed Henry delivered his speech), the ratings were also strong:

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“I am here to answer questions in honor of Ed Henry, as he wraps up his tenure as the president of the White House Correspondents Association, in honor of that, Ed, you get the first question,” the President said.

Henry, the Fox News White House correspondent, asked about Syria, and its potential use of chemical weapons with the first question, and also asked about Benghazi.

CNN’s Jessica Yellin got the second question, and asked about the investigation into the Boston bombing.

Jonathan Karl from ABC News asked question three, and asked whether the President still had “the juice” to push his agenda through Congress.

Bill Plante, from CBS News, asked about the hunger strike in the Guantanamo Bay prison.

Chuck Todd from NBC asks question five, about the healthcare bill.

Antonieta Cádiz from Chilean news agency El Mercurio asked the final question, about U.S. immigration reform.

As he walked off stage, a reporter yelled at Obama about Jason Collins, the President returned to the podium to make a brief statement about Collins.

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Obama kicked off his remarks by acknowledging Fox News senior White House correspondent Ed Henry, the White House Correspondents’ Association president. “Ed, you’re doing an outstanding job,” Obama said. “We are grateful for the great work you’ve done.”

In his remarks, Obama poked fun at CNN, MSNBC and Fox News. “I know CNN has taken some knocks lately, but I admire their commitment to cover all sides of the story, just in case one of them happens to be accurate,” he said. “David Axelrod now works for MSNBC, which is a nice change of pace considering MSNBC used to work for David Axelrod.” Obama joked that Fox News said it was “an insult to Satan” when an actor in the History Channel’s series “The Bible” was noticed for his resemblance to the President.

O’Brien also took aim at CNN and Fox News in his speech. “Speaking of dinner, tonight’s entrees were halibut and filet mignon. Or as John King reported it, lasagna and cous-cous,” he said. “If the President laughs, everyone laughs. And if the Fox News table laughs, a little girl just fell off her bike.”

O’Brien also made fun of NBC, saying the network has had a “rough go of it” of late. “The ‘Today’ show let go of Ann Curry. After being told, Ann Curry said, ‘let me get this straight: Al Roker tells the world that he crapped his pants at the White House, and I’m getting fired?’” O’Brien said.

Earlier in the day, Tammy Haddad hosted the 20th Annual Correspondents Garden Brunch. FishbowlDC has the details of the event, which was attended by Greta Van Susteren, Savannah Guthrie, Norah O’Donnell and Chris Matthews, among many others.

After the jump, watch the “House of Cards” spoof that opened the dinner, featuring Henry, Charlie Rose and Major Garrett. continued…

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C-SPAN, which was covering the dinner live before it was cool, will kick off coverage at 6:15 PM Saturday with red carpet coverage, as well as full, unedited coverage of the event. C-SPAN will also have some liveshots from BuzzFeed’s counter-programmed BBQ.

CNN is planning live coverage from 9-11 PM, hosted by Don Lemon, along with Brianna Keilar and Nischelle Turner. The first hour will feature “best of” moments from past dinners, with the second hour featuring the key speeches live. There will also be reports from the red carpet during the 6-7 PM hour.

Fox News will be covering the proceedings as part of “Justice with Judge Jeanine Pirro” from 9-11 PM Saturday. There will be some guests to talk about the festivities, and live coverage of the speeches in the 10 PM hour, TVNewser hears.

MSNBC will also have special coverage from 9-11 PM, with the first hour featuring “best of” highlights, and live coverage in the second hour. Craig Melvin will host.
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• Pulitzer prize winning journalist Edward Pound will head up Al Jazeera America’s 16-person investigative team. An alum of The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and other pubs, Pound will be based at AJA’s Washington DC bureau. The new channel will launch on the former Current TV.

• As FBN’s Sandra Smith prepares to give birth to her first child, she tells the Chicago Tribune about the months of back-and-forth between her native Chicago, where her husband lived, and a new job in New York. “Flight delays, snowy weather, tight time schedules made it very challenging. But not once did John complain.”

• Fox News Channel’s White House correspondent Ed Henry‘s “claim to fame” involved former Pres. Bill Clinton when Henry was a reporter with Roll Call in 1998: “He lied to me first,” Henry says in a profile in MarylandLife.

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“I just think there is probably a unique spotlight put on the Fox correspondent covering Obama, because there has been some back and forth over the last four years—to put it mildly … I respect the president, and I think he respects me. My job is to challenge authority. I don’t really have any problems day to day in terms of covering them.”

Henry also looks forward to the WHCA dinner later this month:

“We always get a lot of buzz for our White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Lots of celebrities come, people have a great time, and that’s good,” he says. “But we want to remind people that our organization is standing up for press access at the White House and standing up for needy students. That’s important to us. We should give something back.”

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Ryan Lizza of The New Yorker wins for journalistic excellence.  The awards will be presented at the annual dinner April 27. Fox News White House correspondent Ed Henry is the current president of the WHCA. This is the fourth year in a row the WHCA has honored an ABC correspondent. Jake Tapper won it the last three years. Tapper is now with CNN.

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Late night talker Conan O’Brien will be the entertainer at this year’s White House Correspondents Association dinner, to be held April 27 in Washington.

“Conan is one of television’s most innovative and influential talents and I am absolutely thrilled that he has agreed to be this year’s featured act,” said WHCA President Ed Henry in a statement.

“As social media has changed all aspects of the media business, Conan has embraced this shifting landscape to become a creative force both online as well as in the traditional television model. We are grateful that Conan also will be using that creativity to bring more attention to the WHCA’s commitment to helping needy journalism students.”

Proceeds from the evening – dubbed the “Nerd Prom” – will help fund more than $100,000 in WHCA scholarships.

As is tradition, the President and First Lady once again will be in attendance, with President Obama set to deliver his own set of jokes.

This also marks a return performance for O’Brien, who headlined the 1995 WCHA dinner.

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In case you aren’t caught up: over the weekend the President played golf in Florida with Tiger Woods, among other people. The press was not allowed in to see them play. White House Correspondents Association president (and Fox News correspondent) Ed Henry went public with press complaints about the incident, saying it was emblematic of a larger issue at the White House.

Henry is speaking out on behalf of the WHCA, talking to Politico about the issue, and appearing on competitor “NBC Nightly News” to talk about the dispute. Henry’s FNC affiliation was not included in the chyron.

Politico also published an in-depth, reported piece from Mike Allen and Jim VandeHai titled “Obama, The Puppet Master.” The report looks at the administration’s views on the press, including Obama’s preference to talk to TV reporters over print reporters, and how staffers keep reporters at arms length and beyond:
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President golfs today w/Tiger Woods & White House has blocked all press access bc private course. Yet Golf Digest tweeting from inside

— Ed Henry (@edhenryTV) February 17, 2013

In a statement, Henry added, “I can say a broad cross-section of our members, from print, radio, online and tv today expressed extreme frustration to me about having absolutely no access to the president of the United States this entire weekend. It’s also consistent with the press access promised to the White House Press Corps prior to arrival in Florida on Friday evening.”

The White House responds: “The press access granted by the White House today is entirely consistent with the press access offered for previous presidential golf outings.”

The story has become fodder on cable news this morning with CNN putting it to viewers, asking whether we should have the right to see pictures of the President playing golf, while on Fox News a guest said he’d rather the press corps “complain about lack of answers on Benghazi” than bemoan a lack of access on the golf course.

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Bret Baier

After the Republican response, which is expected to conclude around 10:40pmET, Greta Van Susteren will take over for an abbreviated “On the Record.” Sean Hannity will be live from 11pm to midnight.

Shepard Smith will anchor for Fox Broadcasting and will be joined after the speeches by “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace. Additionally, Harris Faulkner will host a live webcast on foxnews.com.

>Update: With the news of Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation, Smith will be in Rome Tuesday. Wallace will anchor on Fox Broadcasting in his place.

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On CNN, Candy Crowley will anchor “State of the Union” from Newtown. Don Lemon, Wolf Blitzer, Erin Burnett and Anderson Cooper will anchor from Newtown Sunday, and the network will air a weekday primetime schedule. Fox News will again have an expanded edition of “Fox & Friends” beginning at 6amET Sunday, and MSNBC will have live programming until 6pmET. HLN will cover the shooting beginning at 7amET and going through 1pmET.

On the broadcast networks, the shooting will be the main topic of the Sunday public affairs shows. Connecticut governor Dannel Malloy will appear on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” CBS’ “Face the Nation” and ABC’s “This Week.”

On CBS, Jeff Glor will anchor “CBS Evening News” from Newtown. “CBS Sunday Morning” will also feature three segments on the shooting.

ABC’s Dan Harris, Amy Robach, and Lara Spencer will anchor “Good Morning America” from Newtown. David Muir will also anchor “World News” from the location of the shooting.

We’ll continue to update this post as the networks set coverage plans.

>Update: The cable networks have added Sunday night programming to cover President Obama’s visit to Newtown:

Fox News will air a two-hour special anchored by Bret Baier at 6pmET. Baier will be joined by Molly Line and Mike Tobin from Newtown, as well as chief White House correspondent Ed Henry.

MSNBC will be live through 9pmET with coverage of Obama’s visit.

On CNN, Anderson Cooper and Erin Burnett will anchor a three-hour special from Newtown beginning at 6pmET.

>More: ABC News will also broadcast a special report during Obama’s remarks at the vigil, anchored by George Stephanopoulos and Diane Sawyer.  Muir will contribute from Newtown. NBC News will also have a special report anchored by Lester Holt in Newtown.

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More than anyone, he understands how the natural adversarial role of reporting on the highest level of government has become complicated in recent years by the rise in partisan media and online critics who parse every word reporters and anchors say.

“It definitely puts pressure on all of us,” Henry said, “and if you step out and ask tough questions, you’re somehow seen as a partisan now , even if it’s a substantive question and even if it’s a fair question.”

He also has no problem admitting that he doesn’t always agree with some of the things the commentators on the network say, as with the situation in Benghazi:
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“It only took 15 minutes to get home,” Ailes told TVNewser in a lengthy interview in his office Thursday. “I turn on the TV and the first thing I see is Rove saying something like ‘you called Ohio too early.’ And I thought, ‘What the? What is this?’”

Ailes watched as his highly-paid pundit was challenging his decision desk’s call which would give the election to Pres. Obama.

“So I quickly called [EVP of News] Michael Clemente and I said, ‘Michael whatever you do, don’t go to commercial. Don’t leave the screen.’”

Ailes instructed Clemente to have Megyn Kelly, “go confront the decision team. If you have to, make the decision team confront Rove.” Confrontation is Roger Ailes’ middle name. (Actually it’s Eugene)

Ailes says transparency was the key, telling Clemente, “‘We can’t do anything off camera.’ I didn’t want the public or our competitors to say we somehow panicked and didn’t confront the truth on camera.”

“As it turned out Rove was wrong. He backed down. Our guys were right. We stayed with it. Megyn did her famous walk down the hall. And it all worked out.”

Fox News and the Obama administration already have a chilly relationship. Last year in a news conference, the president remarked to FNC White House correspondent Ed Henry, “I didn’t know you where the spokesperson for Mitt Romney.”

So, how will the next four years play out?

“It’s day to day for us,” Ailes tell us. “We don’t — I know no one believes it — we have no agenda. If he runs into a burning building tomorrow and saves four kids, he’s gonna be the biggest goddamn hero Fox News ever saw. But if he leaves four guys behind on the battlefield but can’t explain it, then he’s gonna have a problem with Fox News.”

“I don’t mind praising the guy and I don’t mind questioning the guy,” says Ailes. “It’s day to day.”

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“I hear you have a few questions for me,” Obama said as he stepped up to the podium, before delivering a brief statement.

Pres Obama’s news conf comes 8 days after the election; GWBush waited 2 days; Clinton 3days; Reagan, the morning after.

— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) November 14, 2012

Among the likely topics of discussion are the Petraeus incident, his election win and the attack in Benghazi.

• The first question went to the AP, as is customary, which asked about national security as it relates to the Petraeus scandal.

• Question two went to CNN chief White House correspondent Jessia Yellin, who asked about the fiscal cliff as it related to tax cuts.

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