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GOP Slaps Ban on CNN, NBC for 2016 — ‘The Media Overplayed Their Hand This Time’

Aug 16, 2013  •  Post A Comment

The Republican National Committee voted today to ban the television networks NBC and CNN from hosting GOP presidential primary debates in 2016, TheWrap.com reports. The move keeps up GOP pressure on the networks in response to their plans to air programming focused on Hillary Clinton.

“The media overplayed their hand this time," said RNC Chairman Reince Priebus. "It was so obvious even liberals saw it. And some reporters at CNN and NBC are upset at the Democrat donors in their companies who made the decision to run these Clinton promos."

TheWrap reports: "The RNC’s vote at the party’s Summer Meeting in Boston bars the party or its officials from either partnering or sanctioning debates with either network. The party made good on its threats to do so if the networks didn’t reverse course. Priebus says the networks are giving Clinton, a potential 2016 Democratic candidate, an unfair boost over Republican candidates. He has used the issue to rally the GOP base by returning to a familiar theme: The media is biased against Republicans."

Priebus added: “We’re done putting up with this nonsense. There are plenty of other outlets. We’ll still reach voters, maybe more voters. But CNN and NBC anchors will just have to watch on their competitors’ networks."

As previously reported, Preibus sent a letter earlier this month to NBC Entertainment Chairman Robert Greenblatt and CNN President Jeff Zucker in which he threatened to boycott the networks if they moved forward with the Clinton projects. The networks responded by saying the RNC’s concerns were "premature."

In his letter, Priebus wrote: “It’s appalling to know executives at major networks like NBC and CNN who have donated to Democrats and Hillary Clinton have taken it upon themselves to be Hillary Clinton’s campaign operatives."

TheWrap adds: "Part of the effort was a petition drive targeting the two networks. The party also offered its own ‘four part mini-series,’ entitled, ‘Will the Hillary Films Include…’ Each video in the series included a press release and an ad on the RNC’s website."

The story also notes: "Plans for the series caused some internal debate at NBC. While NBC News issued a statement saying it was separate from NBC entertainment, both Chuck Todd and Andrea Mitchell on the news side have questioned the wisdom of the miniseries. NBC has talked with Fox about producing the series."

11 Comments

  1. Good riddance. The RNC seems very closed-minded to me AND are only driving people to watch the Hillary movies. They need NBC and CNN more than what these networks need them. Stop your whining already….Moderate here….

  2. From everything I’ve read about the RNC (the NO WE WON’T party) lately, it almost seems like they are looking for more ways than ever to lose more elections. To them I say, keep it up!

  3. It’s extraordinarily stupid of the RNC to admit, up front, that they’re afraid of Hillary, and, in particular, afraid of losing to her. The typical Republican / conservative ploy of blaming the media for the unpopularity and ineffectiveness of their own policies and ideas is now permanently enshrined in this act of stupidity.

  4. Why not penalize all Fox outlets too as they are producing the NBC miniseries? A little selective in their approach.
    Interesting they clearly are very scared of Mrs Clinton and she may not even run……

  5. Just another example of a political ideology attempting to propagate their propaganda.

  6. After watching nearly all of the “debates” during the last circus, I say fine. This will give us 2 more alternatives to the BS side show they labelled as debates. If you recall, there was no new ground covered, no new ideas for the old ground and everything could have been summed up in a tweet.

  7. Good for the RNC. The last debate cycle was a joke with liberal moderators trying to influence the outcome. If people want to watch a debate, they will go to whatever networks are carrying it. By the way, why the rush to do this miniseries? Couldn’t we just wait until she’s retired from politics like they do for everybody else? Anybody who doesn’t think the series will gush with goodwill for Hillary isn’t being honest.

  8. “Gush with goodwill for Hillary”?
    Really? You don’t think we’re going to be reminded of Bill and the blue dress and the cigar? And are you willing to bet that they’re going to spend more time on Benghazi than on the death of Bin Laden? If you think a network is going to go all soft when they can double their ratings by being snarky, you just aren’t watching enough television. It’s not like network newscasts were soft on Bill, were they? Or easy on Hillary during the 2004 campaign?

  9. This is hilarious…NBC and CNN couldn’t buy this kind of publicity.

  10. You sir should be a politician yourself. You have a gift for speaking authoritatively about subjects you know next to nothing about.

  11. The RNC will very quickly discover that they’ve been played. They handed the “liberal media” they like to bellyache about a reason to completely ignore them on a silver platter! The next press release they send out that doesn’t get covered will immediately draw the usual “see, the liberal media is censoring us!” crap and all those outlets have to do is point to the RNC’s own little hissy-fit, barring them from debates which they can easily extend to ANY & ALL FUNCTIONS OF THE RNC.
    The RNC needs the media outlets a lot more than the media outlets need the RNC, a lesson that is about to be learned the hard way.

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