Activists Blast DNC for Even Considering a Fox News Debate

[babylonsister]

Activists Blast DNC for Even Considering a Fox News Debate
The party is divided among those who want to directly engage the opposition and those who think that’s totally insane.
Gideon Resnick,
Maxwell Tani
02.26.19 4:43 AM ET


Months before the first of a dozen Democratic primary debates is set to air, some activists within the party have begun raising concerns about one possible host: Fox News.

The right-leaning network with deep ties to the Trump administration hasn’t hosted a Democratic primary debate in over a decade. But that may change this year.

During a brief interview in late January, Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez spoke with Fox anchor Bret Baier about the upcoming 2020 presidential election. In response to a question posed by Baier about whether Fox News could possibly host one of the many debates set to take place between 2019 and 2020, Perez said, “Absolutely, we’re having discussions with Fox and others.”

The comment was not universally well received. Democratic groups and politicians have long taken issue with the rightward bend of Fox News’ coverage, particularly in its primetime hours. And DNC staffers have not forgotten the role the network played in spreading a debunked conspiracy theory about the 2016 murder of former DNC staffer Seth Rich, who police say was killed in a botched robbery. In early 2018, Rich’s parents sued Fox News for a retracted story that said investigators had evidence showing Rich was tied to the leaking of DNC emails to WikiLeaks.

Over a week ago, the founder of the progressive website Daily Kos, Markos Moulitsas, delivered a petition to the DNC with over 100,000 signatures, calling on the committee to reject Fox News as a possible host for a Democratic debate. And he reserved blame for one person in particular.

“The DNC is giving Fox News and the conservative movement a giant credibility boost by even considering granting them a debate,” he told The Daily Beast. “At a time when activists have worked so hard to convince advertisers to abandon that den of racism, bigotry and misogyny, here comes Tom Perez like a jackass undermining all that work.”

more...

https://www.thedailybeast.com/activists-blast-dnc-for-even-considering-a-fox-news-debate?ref=home

[Soxfan58]

1. Why?

A chance to lay out our agenda in front of the knuckle dragers. I know its a long shot but we may change a couple minds

[babylonsister]

2. IMO viewers could switch to whatever channel

is showing the debates if they're that interested. I agree with Marcos.

“The DNC is giving Fox News and the conservative movement a giant credibility boost by even considering granting them a debate. At a time when activists have worked so hard to convince advertisers to abandon that den of racism, bigotry and misogyny, here comes Tom Perez like a jackass undermining all that work.”

[rampartc]

3. the very idea is unthinkable

they will define us as socialist open borders anti christian terrorists anyway. we fon't have to help them.

the job of all of our candidates up to and includunf the convention is to present our ideas in the most positive terms.

my bad. make that up to and including the general election. and beyond.

[dem4decades]

4. A panel of Judge Judy, Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter seems like a bad idea.

[sacto95834]

5. Fox

The Fox News division, what little I've seen about them, seem to be okay. It's the Analysts and guests that make up panels that are from another universe.

I try to keep the news portion from the "entertainment" portion of FOX separate. The journalist like Chris Wallace and what's his face (can't remember for the life of me) seem fine as journalist; they certainly come from the right, but they deal in facts unlike the Analysts and Panelist who take up so much of FOX air.

So as long as the debates are controlled by the News portion, it will probably be okay. I think all legitimate news organizations should be able to "hosts" debates. I think the days when the debates were hosted by non-partisan organizations are long gone. I remember when presidential debates were hosted by the League of Women Voters.

[obamanut2012]

6. wrong

[bearsfootball516]

7. Local Fox affiliates tend to be fine.

It's the national network that gets real biased, real fast.