Today In History: Trump Cancels Satellite Tour; SXSW Screens 'Journeys with George'

March 8, 2017, is the 66th day of the year, with 298 days remaining. The moon is in a waxing gibbous phase, with illumination at 81 percent.

South by Southwest Debuts "Journeys with George"

Former NBC News reporter Alexandra Pelosi's 77-minute documentary, "Journeys with George," screened at Austin's SXSW festival in 2002. The film centered on George W. Bush's 2000 campaign for the U.S. presidency. Pelosi referred to the documentary as "a Rorschach test" on the 43rd president.

HBO screened the film in November of that same year, with controversy emerging as White House officials claimed that Pelosi had guaranteed a restriction on certain footage, such as Bush "mugging" for the camera. Pelosi parted ways with NBC News following her campaign coverage, but then-NBC News Vice President William Wheatley released a statement on the Bush administration's objection.

"My memory was that there were inquiries made, and the White House was not insisting that it never be used," said Wheatley.

However, by this time, "Journeys with George" had been made, and Pelosi didn't require NBC News' permission to debut it.

Donald Trump Cancels Satellite TV Tour

It's Tuesday morning. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is scheduled to go on a satellite TV tour — but he cancels at the last minute.

The now-45th president of the United States attributed the change in plans to technical glitches, while network sources reported that Trump didn't approve of the live picture. Instead, he conducted the interviews by phone.

Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks told CNNMoney, "Not only was the look terrible, because the lighting was all screwed up, but we weren't able to connect to half of the stations he was supposed to be on with.

"Honestly," said Hicks, "it was a disaster."

The event was coupled with an important election primary, Super Tuesday 2, with Trump and former Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton given the chance to build on their respective momentum and pad their leads ahead of the Michigan primary vote.

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