Webcaster drops out of Fox's 'unfair, unbalanced' debate
 A Democratic presidential debate scheduled for the late summer has attracted a lot of unusually early attention, since it is sponsored by a cable news channel that a vast majority of Democrats see as unfriendly to the party.
One major presidential candidate has already dropped out, as liberal bloggers have been hammering at the sponsorship by Fox News Channel. This afternoon, the webcaster invited by the Nevada Democratic Party also dropped out of what it called an "egregiously unfair and unbalanced" debate.
Yesterday, Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards announced that he would skip the August 14 debate hosted by the Fox News Channel and the Nevada Democratic Party. The Edwards campaign acknowledged that Fox News' participation in the debate was a factor in their decision, also citing a busy campaigning schedule.
"PoliticsTV.com has informed the Nevada Democratic Party that it cannot accept its invitation to webcast the August debate," said a press release issued by the political video website, attributed to executive Producer/CEO Dan Manatt. "FOX News’ terms for PTV’s webcast are egregiously unfair and unbalanced."
The statement continued, "FOX offered PTV a live feed, with the FOX branding and logo, without offering PTV any opportunity to use the content in any other way. Worst of all, FOX demanded that PTV’s participation be via live webcast only, and that PTV not post any clips from the debate in archival or other form."
PoliticsTV.com called Fox's offer "as one-sided as a Bill O’Reilly diatribe."
According to the site's About page, it "is a bona fide news organization under the Federal Election Campaign Act," and "ptvMedia, PoliticsTV’s consulting division, is America’s first political Web Video consulting firm. Current and past clients for ptvMedia show that the firm represents mostly Democratic and progressive organizations, including MoveOn.org, Brookings Institution, EMILY’s List/Campaign Corps and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and National Committees.
The dropouts are being hailed as victories by online critics, who have opposed the debate and have pushed for the Nevada Democratic Party to drop Fox as a broadcasting partner.
"MoveOn.org Civic Action says it has collected more than 260,000 signatures on a petition that calls the cable network a 'mouthpiece for the Republican Party, not a legitimate news channel,'" the AP reported.
Fox News issued a statement calling Edwards' decision "unfortunate."
Democratic Party Chairman Tom Collins told the AP that Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid, who initially lauded the decision to partner with Fox on the debate as an "opportunity to reach out to a different block of voters," now shares the concerns of the activists.
He "has asked us to take another look," said Collins
Transcript of full press release by PoliticsTV.com:
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PoliticsTV.com has informed the Nevada Democratic Party that it cannot accept its invitation to webcast the August debate.
FOX News’ terms for PTV’s webcast are egregiously unfair and unbalanced.
FOX offered PTV a live feed, with the FOX branding and logo, without offering PTV any opportunity to use the content in any other way.
Worst of all, FOX demanded that PTV’s participation be via live webcast only, and that PTV not post any clips from the debate in archival or other form.
FOX’s offer was as one-sided as a Bill O’Reilly diatribe.
FOX’s “monopoly” demand is outrageous in that it (1) essentially requires PTV to contract away its First Amendment right of free press, including fair use, and (2) seeks to deny PTV the essence of its communications model – video on demand – while asserting its monopoly right to the web video version of the debate.
FOX cannot monopolize the Web; it cannot constitutionally monopolize political speech; it should not be allowed monopolize a debate it sponsors, nor can it legally; and it should learn from its corporate sibling MySpace that it cannot monopolize the Net or the Netroots.
At a time when C-SPAN, among others, is loosening its copyright claims to serve the public interest, it is ironic that FOX seeks to fulfill its FCC public interest requirements even as it does damage to the interest of American Democracy. Rupert Murdoch, long a proponent of free air time for candidates, should be ashamed.
PoliticsTV.com has informed the Nevada Democratic Party that it is eager to participate in webcasting another debate, forum, or event on fair, democratic terms, and is eager to do so.
But under the circumstances dictated by FOX, PTV regrettably cannot agree to participate in the August debate.
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Congressional Black Caucus plans Fox debates
At the popular community blog, Daily Kos, the site's founder Markos Moulitsas complains that "now the Congressional Black Caucus wants to get in bed with Fox News."
"Later this week, the Congressional Black Caucus Political Education and Leadership Institute plans to announce two debates in concert with Fox News, according to a source familiar with the negotiations, which have apparently been going on for weeks," Garance Franke-Ruta blogged at Prospect.org.
The Prospect posting, linked to by Moulitsas, quoted a CBC consultant as saying that "CNN and Fox have presented the Institute with two great proposals and at some point in the coming days we will be making an announcement," but that the plans have not been finalized yet.
"Funny that the CBC wants to get in bed with a network that has made a habit of trashing African American interests," Moulitsas blogs. "I mean, just look at last week," pointing to a Media Matters report on Fox pundits comparing the church that Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) belongs to as an "African-centric" cult.
Moulitsas also posted "an email floating around" which quotes Democratic and progressive voices calling on Nevada Democrats to "reject NV Dem Chairman Tom Collin's fake offer." Along with Moulitsas and Manatt, the email also includes quotes from the Carson City Democratic Committee and Air America Radio President Mark Green.
According to ABC News, "a gauntlet thrown by" Moulitsas was a major factor in Edwards' decision to drop-out of the debate.
"Seeking to solidify the liberal base of his party, Democratic presidential contender former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., announced this week his boycott of the August 14th Democratic debate in Nevada being co-hosted by Fox News," Jake Tapper and Nitya Venkataramann report. "Edwards was, in fact, responding to a gauntlet thrown by blogger Markos Moulitsas, founder of liberal website the Daily Kos, who asked the Democratic candidate pool 'not to do a Fox News debate,' rather 'to debate in Nevada with another media partner.'"
ABC News adds, "Moulitsas clarified that his e-charge wasn't to handicap the state or the Democratic party within it but "to deprive the right wing's premier propaganda outlet an easy opportunity to take cheap shots at our guys."
At the close of his latest posting on the brouhaha, Moulitsas added some contact information for the Congressional Black Caucus, which a Daily Kos reader had left in the comments. Phone numbers, fax addresses and emails for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, the CBC Institute, and CBC Chair Rep. Carolyn Kilpatrick were listed so that "Kossacks" can let them know how they feel about the negotiations with Fox.
Transcript of email sent by Moulitsas to ABC News:
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In an email to ABC News, Markos Moulitsas explained the reason for his campaign:
"Rank and file Democrats have spent the past decade fighting Fox News' lies and distortions, with increasing success. The network is the Republican Party's premiere propaganda arm, and already we've seen it, this presidential cycle, fuel smears against Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama while providing Ann Coulter with sanctuary after her hateful remarks against John Edwards.
"Fox News doesn't deserve any validation as a "serious" news outlet because it's not an unbiased network. Any Democrat that goes on the network validates every single smear it launches against Democrats.
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