The GOP’s media warfare goes nuclear: How the RNC is trying to hold journalism hostage

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The battle between the Republicans and the media reached ridiculous new heights on Friday when the Republican National Committee announced that it is suspending its partnership with NBC News for a presidential debate in February. RNC chief Reince Priebus told NBC that he was so incensed by the way the most recent debate on CNBC went that he is pulling out, writing, “We simply cannot continue with NBC without full consultation with our campaigns.”

Let’s put to one side the irony of CNBC—which is home to some of the most rabid free-marketeers around, and which, lest we forget, is where the Tea Party started—suddenly being portrayed as the ultimate symbol of radical left-wing bias. Priebus’s letter represents a sharp escalation in hostilities towards the media in general.

The RNC’s move must be read in the context of a simmering revolt from the individual presidential campaigns, which had begun banding together to force just this kind of action from the GOP hierarchy. Priebus must have been terrified that he would lose control over the debate process, so he moved to defuse the anger coming from below.

It would have been great if NBC News had responded with similar contempt. The CNBC debate may have been abysmal, but it’s not for the Republican Party to dictate terms to a news network, or to look over its shoulder as it crafts the questions for a debate. NBC should have told Priebus to get lost.

http://www.salon.com/2015/10/30/the_gops_media_warfare_goes_nuclear_how_the_rnc_is_trying_to_hold_journalism_hostage/