The RNC debate ‘threat’ is either a bluff or a blunder
By Ron Klain, WashPost, Published: August 9
Ron Klain has been a senior debate preparation advisor to every Democratic presidential ticket since 1992. He is an adjunct professor, teaching a course on the history of Presidential debates, at Georgetown University.
Recently, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, Reince Priebus, “threatened” NBC and CNN with a refusal to permit them to cover GOP presidential primary debates in 2016 if those networks continue with their plans to produce films about Hillary Clinton. Priebus has said he will have the RNC formally vote on the cut-off next week.
Yet Priebus’s warning was reminiscent of the Mel Brooks gag in which a character tries to hold off attackers by pointing a gun at himself and warning, “Don’t move, or I’ll shoot.” There are many reasons the GOP primary debates need the networks a lot more than the other way around.
Unlike general election debates, which are produced by a nonpartisan commission and receive ubiquitous coverage on all major networks, primary debates usually are a joint production of a party affiliate group (e.g., the Republican Party of Iowa) and a media sponsor (e.g., CNBC), and are carried live nationally only by the sponsoring media organization. Under this system, the GOP held 20 debates that got national television coverage in 2012. Exactly half of these debates were broadcast solely by CNN or NBC (or one of NBC’s subsidiaries, like CNBC). Of the other half, seven were carried nationally by a Fox network; only three of the GOP’s 20 debates in 2012 were broadcast nationally by a network other than CNN, NBC, or Fox.
(More here.)
Ron Klain has been a senior debate preparation advisor to every Democratic presidential ticket since 1992. He is an adjunct professor, teaching a course on the history of Presidential debates, at Georgetown University.
Recently, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, Reince Priebus, “threatened” NBC and CNN with a refusal to permit them to cover GOP presidential primary debates in 2016 if those networks continue with their plans to produce films about Hillary Clinton. Priebus has said he will have the RNC formally vote on the cut-off next week.
Yet Priebus’s warning was reminiscent of the Mel Brooks gag in which a character tries to hold off attackers by pointing a gun at himself and warning, “Don’t move, or I’ll shoot.” There are many reasons the GOP primary debates need the networks a lot more than the other way around.
Unlike general election debates, which are produced by a nonpartisan commission and receive ubiquitous coverage on all major networks, primary debates usually are a joint production of a party affiliate group (e.g., the Republican Party of Iowa) and a media sponsor (e.g., CNBC), and are carried live nationally only by the sponsoring media organization. Under this system, the GOP held 20 debates that got national television coverage in 2012. Exactly half of these debates were broadcast solely by CNN or NBC (or one of NBC’s subsidiaries, like CNBC). Of the other half, seven were carried nationally by a Fox network; only three of the GOP’s 20 debates in 2012 were broadcast nationally by a network other than CNN, NBC, or Fox.
(More here.)
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1 Comments:
I believe the RNC is being silly. I would like to learn more about cattle futures, Vince Foster, the Rose Hill law firm billing records, travelgate,... why it could be a whole series.
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