For Debate Partners, an Unusual Pairing
By JEREMY W. PETERS and BRIAN STELTER
TAMPA, Fla. — In the pantheon of strange political bedfellows, CNN and the Tea Party could go down as one of the oddest pairings since James Carville and Mary Matalin.
CNN, the 24/7 cable news pioneer long derided by conservatives as a mouthpiece of the political left, and Tea Party activists, who pride themselves on bucking the establishment, came together here Monday evening for a presidential debate — an unusual display of cooperation between the news media and some of its most hostile critics.
Each stands to benefit from reaching the other’s following, raising questions about whether the arrangement was a shrewd political transaction masquerading as public service.
Sal Russo, a co-founder of the Tea Party Express, said he expected the partnership to help dispel misperceptions about the Tea Party as a fringe movement.
“The fact that they’re broadcasting and partnering with us shows that they understand it’s a broad-based political movement and that it isn’t fractured and narrow,” Mr. Russo said.
CNN, which has sought to establish itself as an island of cable news centrism between MSNBC on the left and Fox News on the right, went to great lengths to make the event as authentically Tea Party as possible. The network planned the debate for Sept. 12, a symbolic date for Tea Party activists.
The venue CNN selected, the Florida State Fairgrounds, was chosen for its grass-roots appeal and its ability to easily accommodate thousands of Tea Party spectators. And the partner it sought out, the Tea Party Express, used its ties to hundreds of Tea Party groups across the country to recruit attendees.
“After the 2010 elections, it was undeniable that the Tea Party movement within the Republican Party was a force, and that it was likely to help determine the outcome of the nomination,” said Sam Feist, CNN’s Washington bureau chief. “We decided that it makes sense for one of the debates to have a Tea Party connection, and that we were the right network to do it.”
Networks regularly partner with established political organizations to host debates during primary season. Fox News, CNBC and ABC News, for example, are all sponsoring debates later this year with state Republican groups in several states.
Alex Conant, a spokesman for the Tim Pawlenty presidential campaign until Mr. Pawlenty dropped out last month, said news organizations partnered with political entities to make sure that candidates showed up for debates — and to make sure that viewers tuned in.
“There are so many debates; the networks look for ways to partner with groups that would help the debate stand out,” Mr. Conant said.
But the CNN debate on Monday was the first event hosted jointly by a major news organization and a Tea Party group. And their partnership left some questioning whether the network had gone too far in reaching for centrist credibility.
“Is there really a need for another national cable news channel devoted to promoting far-right elements within the Republican Party?” the liberal media watchdog group FAIR said Monday in an e-mail alert to its members in which it labeled the Tea Party “a controversial political group.”
CNN, which said it maintained complete control over what would be asked during the debate and which candidates could participate, coordinated with Tea Party activists from across the country to solicit questions. It arranged for live satellite feeds for Tea Party activists to ask questions from gatherings in Arizona, Virginia and Ohio. And the Tea Party Express identified almost 1,000 people from 31 states and the District of Columbia to sit in the audience.
Even the graphics on the video screens behind the stage flashed flags that are often seen at Tea Party rallies.
Here in Tampa, there were signs the network was sensitive to perceptions that it was being too cozy with Tea Party activists. During a tour of the debate hall, Mr. Feist referred to the gatherings in Arizona, Virginia and Ohio, saying, “We’ll have watch parties.” He was swiftly corrected by CNN’s special events producer, Kate Lunger, who interjected, “Well, we won’t have watch parties.”
CNN is not the first network to be associated with the Tea Party. Rick Santelli, a reporter for CNBC, is credited with galvanizing the movement in early 2009 with his “Chicago Tea Party” rant that attacked government bailouts. Fox News swiftly gravitated to the Tea Party movement, broadcasting whole shows from several rallies and even taking out an advertisement lambasting its competitors for missing one such event that year. (The competitors had, in fact, covered it.)
When CNN has covered Tea Party rallies in the past, it was met more than once by hostile crowds. During a Capitol Hill demonstration in September 2009, protesters shouted “Tell the Truth!” at the correspondent Lisa Desjardins before breaking into a chant for Glenn Beck, the former Fox News host.
Since then, CNN has moved aggressively to cover the Tea Party as a political phenomenon; last year it showed an hourlong documentary about the movement, and earlier this year it hired a Tea Party leader and radio host as a contributor.
CNN, the 24/7 cable news pioneer long derided by conservatives as a mouthpiece of the political left, and Tea Party activists, who pride themselves on bucking the establishment, came together here Monday evening for a presidential debate — an unusual display of cooperation between the news media and some of its most hostile critics.
Each stands to benefit from reaching the other’s following, raising questions about whether the arrangement was a shrewd political transaction masquerading as public service.
Sal Russo, a co-founder of the Tea Party Express, said he expected the partnership to help dispel misperceptions about the Tea Party as a fringe movement.
“The fact that they’re broadcasting and partnering with us shows that they understand it’s a broad-based political movement and that it isn’t fractured and narrow,” Mr. Russo said.
CNN, which has sought to establish itself as an island of cable news centrism between MSNBC on the left and Fox News on the right, went to great lengths to make the event as authentically Tea Party as possible. The network planned the debate for Sept. 12, a symbolic date for Tea Party activists.
The venue CNN selected, the Florida State Fairgrounds, was chosen for its grass-roots appeal and its ability to easily accommodate thousands of Tea Party spectators. And the partner it sought out, the Tea Party Express, used its ties to hundreds of Tea Party groups across the country to recruit attendees.
“After the 2010 elections, it was undeniable that the Tea Party movement within the Republican Party was a force, and that it was likely to help determine the outcome of the nomination,” said Sam Feist, CNN’s Washington bureau chief. “We decided that it makes sense for one of the debates to have a Tea Party connection, and that we were the right network to do it.”
Networks regularly partner with established political organizations to host debates during primary season. Fox News, CNBC and ABC News, for example, are all sponsoring debates later this year with state Republican groups in several states.
Alex Conant, a spokesman for the Tim Pawlenty presidential campaign until Mr. Pawlenty dropped out last month, said news organizations partnered with political entities to make sure that candidates showed up for debates — and to make sure that viewers tuned in.
“There are so many debates; the networks look for ways to partner with groups that would help the debate stand out,” Mr. Conant said.
But the CNN debate on Monday was the first event hosted jointly by a major news organization and a Tea Party group. And their partnership left some questioning whether the network had gone too far in reaching for centrist credibility.
“Is there really a need for another national cable news channel devoted to promoting far-right elements within the Republican Party?” the liberal media watchdog group FAIR said Monday in an e-mail alert to its members in which it labeled the Tea Party “a controversial political group.”
CNN, which said it maintained complete control over what would be asked during the debate and which candidates could participate, coordinated with Tea Party activists from across the country to solicit questions. It arranged for live satellite feeds for Tea Party activists to ask questions from gatherings in Arizona, Virginia and Ohio. And the Tea Party Express identified almost 1,000 people from 31 states and the District of Columbia to sit in the audience.
Even the graphics on the video screens behind the stage flashed flags that are often seen at Tea Party rallies.
Here in Tampa, there were signs the network was sensitive to perceptions that it was being too cozy with Tea Party activists. During a tour of the debate hall, Mr. Feist referred to the gatherings in Arizona, Virginia and Ohio, saying, “We’ll have watch parties.” He was swiftly corrected by CNN’s special events producer, Kate Lunger, who interjected, “Well, we won’t have watch parties.”
CNN is not the first network to be associated with the Tea Party. Rick Santelli, a reporter for CNBC, is credited with galvanizing the movement in early 2009 with his “Chicago Tea Party” rant that attacked government bailouts. Fox News swiftly gravitated to the Tea Party movement, broadcasting whole shows from several rallies and even taking out an advertisement lambasting its competitors for missing one such event that year. (The competitors had, in fact, covered it.)
When CNN has covered Tea Party rallies in the past, it was met more than once by hostile crowds. During a Capitol Hill demonstration in September 2009, protesters shouted “Tell the Truth!” at the correspondent Lisa Desjardins before breaking into a chant for Glenn Beck, the former Fox News host.
Since then, CNN has moved aggressively to cover the Tea Party as a political phenomenon; last year it showed an hourlong documentary about the movement, and earlier this year it hired a Tea Party leader and radio host as a contributor.
No comments:
Post a Comment