In a letter to NBC News president Andrew Lack on Friday, Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus informed the network “that pending further discussion between the Republican National Committee (RNC) and our presidential campaigns, we are suspending the partnership with NBC News for the Republican primary debate at the University of Houston on February 26, 2016.”
Priebus blasted CNBC for its Wednesday Republican debate being “conducted in bad faith” and loaded with questions that “were inaccurate or downright offensive.”
He ripped the business network for its blatant bias:
While debates are meant to include tough questions and contrast candidates’ visions and policies for the future of America, CNBC’s moderators engaged in a series of “gotcha” questions, petty and mean-spirited in tone, and designed to embarrass our candidates. What took place Wednesday night was not an attempt to give the American people a greater understanding of our candidates’ policies and ideas.
Moments after the debate ended Wednesday night, Media Research Center president Brent Bozell labeled it “an encyclopedic example of liberal media bias on stage.”
An MRC study released on Friday “found nearly two-thirds (65%) hit the candidates with negative spin, personal insults or ad hominem attacks.”
Concluding his Friday letter, Priebus admonished: “I have tremendous respect for the First Amendment and freedom of the press. However, I also expect the media to host a substantive debate on consequential issues important to Americans. CNBC did not.”
As the news broke in the 1 p.m. ET hour, MSNBC fill-in host Erica Hill read from a portion of the RNC letter, followed by a brief statement from NBC: “This is a disappointing development. However, along with our debate broadcast partners at Telemundo we will work in good faith to resolve this matter with the Republican Party.”
Priebus did make it clear that the February debate would go on with fellow co-sponsor National Review: “While we are suspending our partnership with NBC News and its properties, we still fully intend to have a debate on that day, and will ensure that National Review remains part of it.”
Quoting the letter, National Review’s Jim Geraghty reacted: “You want Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus to take a tougher line with NBC? Here’s a tougher line with NBC.”
