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President Obama is hitting the airwaves in a big way this Sunday: he is appearing on almost all of the big Sunday political talk-shows, on ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC and Univision (the biggest Spanish language channel in the States).

Only Fox is left out, presumably because the administration thinks it is too vicious a beast.

Whenever there are big interviews like this, broadcasters go into a controlled tizzy. Executives meet with producers and presenter to brainstorm. What tack to take? Are there any clever lines to pursue? Any left-field questions?

It is often a question of what to leave out: there are about a dozen subjects that would merit half an hour's worth of questions to this president. Healthcare will be a big topic, and possibly the main news-line here in America.

Even the most seasoned and urbane presenter will have butterflies, and agonise about the tone and the phrasing. Hostile, or friendly? Is pushing one big question nobler in the viewers' eye than covering the field? It is a big prize for an anchor to make their interview the one that everyone quotes in this intensely competitive town.

But what wares is the president trying to sell? He must have a big international message ahead of the UN General Assembly and the G20 next week that he will want to be a big headline in newspapers around the Middle East, Europe and in Iran on Monday morning, and on the main broadcasts that night.

The coming week is a very big deal for his relations with the rest of the world.

Tricky customers like Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be in New York for the UN. Mr Obama will chair the security council, apparently the first time a US president has done this.

Then it is on to Pittsburgh for the G20. The leaders of China, Russia and India, France Germany and the UK will be all smiles, but will be watching every move.

So the TV interviews are important in setting the tone. I cannot help thinking that the U-turn on the Bush missile defence plan was not his intended message.

The Wall Street Journal exclusive seemed to be a genuine one, in that it caught the White House on the hop.

For me, also has another distinction: it was the first newspaper article I have read since I was about seven in which I encountered an unfamiliar word in the first paragraph: "Roil". it means to stir up. I am always glad to be educated.

So what will the president's message be? I am told that his theme of the week is non-proliferation, and that it really is a personal passion.

But unless it is linked to a dramatic offer or threat it is scarcely a big, juicy story and he will want to capture the headlines.

It will be something that - like missile defence - sets the tone and proclaims that his America is a country ready to listen and lead the whole world community, something that is diametrically opposed to President Bush's rhetoric about "the coalition of the willing" and "if you're not with us, you're against us."

But calibrating that message so that it goes down as well at home as it will inside the UN is a hard trick, even without the snap of a Fox on your heels.

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