NPR Republican Debate Cancelled Due to Stubborness on Both Sides
Friday, January 11th, 2008
National Public Radio held a Democratic radio debate several weeks ago that was unheralded in recent election cycles. NPR bucked the trend of television primacy by allowing all of the Democratic candidates a chance to speak about the issues without bells and whistles. It is no shock that NPR had to cancel a planned Republican debate set for January 16th in South Carolina due to a lack of candidate interest. Republicans feel that the NPR crowd is not their target audience and 90 minutes on stations at the bottom of the dial is a waste of time.
I think both sides are at fault here for the failure to get a public radio debate going. The Republicans are short-sighted in their ambivalence to speaking to the nation via NPR. The idea that public radio is the exclusive purview of liberals and academics is unfair to libertarians, conservatives and independents who want to hear all sides of American politics. Campaign managers should be leaping at the opportunity to get free advertising for their campaign in media markets throughout the United States. The failure of candidates to clear out 90 minutes for a simple debate shows the lack of dynamism in the Republican Party.
National Public Radio does not leave unscathed when assigning blame for the failed debate. NPR editors should have taken the example of previous debates where candidates did not attend by pressing on with the people who were interested in speaking about major issues. The debate should have taken place closer to the January 19th primary to promote a sense of urgency for Republican campaigns. In the end, the Republican Party and NPR are missing out on an opportunity to expand political dialogue beyond current stereotypes of public radio.
