The Democratic National Committee has barred Fox News from covering any of its 2020 presidential primary debates, DNC Chairman Tom Perez announced Wednesday.
I suspect the immediate response from many conservatives will be to cry foul, to claim that the DNC’s decision is an act of overt partisan politics. I also suspect that many conservatives will assume the move is based entirely on the fact that Fox News’ opinion desk is home to several pro-President Trump apologists.
But it’s a bit more complicated than a difference of ideology.
Though there are likely drawbacks to the committee rejecting Fox, which hasn’t hosted a full Democratic primary debate in nearly two decades, the choice seems as reasonable as when the Republican National Committee did the same to NBC News in 2015 following a disastrously partisan moderating performance by CNBC news reporters.
“I believe that a key pathway to victory is to continue to expand our electorate and reach all voters,” Perez said Wednesday in a statement made available first to Jeff Bezos’ newspaper. “That is why I have made it a priority to talk to a broad array of potential media partners, including Fox News.”
The announcement, which comes after the DNC and Fox had discussed a potential debate partnership for the 2020 election season, is a direct response to a New Yorker article alleging a highly unethical relationship between the news network’s top executives and the Trump White House.
“Recent reporting in the New Yorker on the inappropriate relationship between President Trump, his administration and Fox News has led me to conclude that the network is not in a position to host a fair and neutral debate for our candidates,” Perez’s statement reads. “Therefore, Fox News will not serve as a media partner for the 2020 Democratic primary debates.”
Perez has a point. Now, one can play tit-for-tat all day long and claim Fox’s competitors are no better. One can point to examples of former and current employees of other networks engaging in blatant acts of pro-Democratic partisan activism, some with direct consequences in Democratic and Republican presidential primaries. But Donna Brazile feeding the 2016 Clinton campaign with debate questions is not the same thing as Fox’s top brass reportedly having a direct relationship with the White House. The bad behavior of anchors and contributors at, say, CNN or ABC News doesn’t absolve Fox News from the charge that it has an unusually cozy relationship with the White House. To point out Brazile’s transgressions is merely the recognition that people at other networks have behaved unfairly and with prejudice.
All of this is to say: I understand Perez’s position. If we’re to believe the New Yorker report, which is a big ask considering the author’s penchant for fabulism, he would be remiss to shrug off the allegations. It’d be a disservice to the 2020 Democratic candidates, for whom he is responsible.
Fox News executive Bill Sammon, for his part, responded to the DNC’s decision Wednesday, saying in a statement, “We hope the DNC will reconsider its decision to bar Chris Wallace, Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, all of whom embody the ultimate journalistic integrity and professionalism, from moderating a Democratic presidential debate.”
He added, “They’re the best debate team in the business and they offer candidates an important opportunity to make their case to the largest TV news audience in America, which includes many persuadable voters.”
Sammon is not wrong about the quality of some of Fox’s news reporters, but why would Perez chance it? It’s not unreasonable for him to take a pass, though that means the loss of a massive audience the 2020 Democratic candidates will likely not find at any other network.
