Major US TV Networks Reportedly Urging Biden and Trump to Debate
Summary from the AllSides News Team
The five major TV networks have prepared a joint letter urging President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump to participate in televised debates, per the New York Times (Lean Left bias).
The Details: The letter, endorsed by ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, and Fox News, is reportedly not yet final as the networks seek further endorsements from other national news networks.
For Context: Trump has vowed that he would debate Biden, but Biden has declined to comment on the three debates scheduled for this fall. The last time Americans did not see a live televised debate from the leading candidates was in 1976. General election debates are usually some of the most-viewed television programs of the year.
Key Text: Per the Times, the letter reads, “If there is one thing Americans can agree on, during this polarized time, it is that the stakes of this election are exceptionally high. There is simply no substitute for the candidates debating with each other, and before the American people, their visions for the future of the nation.”
How The Media Covered It: Sources across the spectrum noted Trump’s often chaotic demeanor during debates and that he’s expressed a significant willingness to debate Biden. All three sources included that Trump pulled out of the second debate with Biden in 2020, but Deadline (Center bias) and The Daily Mail (Right bias) noted it was due to Trump’s COVID-19 ailments, whereas The New York Times did not mention the reason.
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Left
TV Networks to Urge Biden and Trump to Debate, Wading Into a Fraught Topic
In an unusual move, the five major broadcast and cable news networks have prepared a joint open letter that urges President Biden and former President Donald J. Trump to participate in televised debates ahead of Election Day, according to two people with direct knowledge of their plans.
The letter — endorsed by ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC and Fox News — thrusts into public view a question that has swirled within media and political circles: whether the presidential debates, one of the nation’s last remaining mass civic rituals in a polarized...
From the Center
Biden Vs. Trump Live: Networks & Cable Newsers Exhort Candidates To “Publicly Commit” To Debate
Is 2024 about to become the new 1972?
Richard Nixon and George McGovern’s battle for the White House 52 years ago was the last time the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates did not directly debate.
With President Joe Biden refusing to say whether or not he will get on a stage with Donald Trump this year, the broadcast networks and cable newsers have banded together to try to convince the incumbent and his predecessor to “publicly commit” to debates.
From the Right
Pressure builds on Biden to debate Trump: Ex-president's campaign demands the primetime showdowns are earlier as five networks urge them to hit the stage and bring them millions of viewers
The pressure is building on President Joe Biden to agree to debate Donald Trump as the former president called for earlier engagements and the television networks are urging the candidates to hit the stage.
'While the Commission on Presidential Debates has already announced three presidential debates and a vice-presidential debate to occur later this year, we are in favor of these debates beginning much earlier,' Trump co-campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita sent Thursday to The Commission on Presidential Debates.
In the letter, obtained by Fox News, the co-managers note that 'voting is beginning...
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