Tell Fox to air debates

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-05-2004
Tell Fox to air debates
Tue, 09-21-2004 - 1:56pm
Forwarded from Media for Democracy (if the link doesn't work, cut and paste the

address onto your address bar)

Our thanks to the tens of thousands of Media for Democracy members who signed

our petition urging the networks to air the upcoming presidential and vice

presidential debates. It has yielded some fruit.

As of last night, at least three of the biggest broadcasters agreed to broadcast

all of debates. Since last Thursday, Media for Democracy members have signed

more than 45,000 petition letters urging the networks to fulfill their

obligation by airing this important discussion of the issues.

CBS responded within 18 hours of the petition's launch. The office of CBS News

President Andrew Hayward contacted Media for Democracy on Friday to announce:

"Absolutely, positively, 1,000 percent correct, we will carry all of the debates

live." By the end of the day yesterday, NBC and ABC had followed suit,

announcing that they planned to cover all of the debates as well (read the

report).

The one hold out remains Fox, which has so far committed to air only one, the

first, via their more than 200 local broadcast affiliates. Given Fox's track

record there is reason for concern. In 2000, Fox skipped a debate, opting to air

the premiere episode of "Dark Angel." This year, they have the rights to air the

Major League Baseball playoffs, and might preempt the debates if they pose a

scheduling conflict.

If you want to continue the petition with Fox as the sole target, you can use

this easy template:

http://www.mediafordemocracy.us/campaign/debate

Thanks, again, for making a difference in 2004.

Timothy Karr

Media for Democracy

MediaChannel.org