Networks Fret Over Airing Republican Convention on Television

According to a new story from The Daily Beast, the same major television networks that have spent this week gushing over the Democratic National Convention and filling their airwaves with hour after mind-numbing hour of coverage of the Zoom speeches…well, they’re suddenly worried. See, if they do this for the Democrats, viewers might expect them to do it for the Republican National Convention! And are they really going to subject their viewers to all of those awful lies and deceptions from President Trump, Mike Pence, and other conservatives? Get the fainting couch!

From the story:

Multiple sources told The Daily Beast that when Democratic officials met with various broadcast network executives about their convention coverage plans, the executives stressed that they could not broadcast two hours each night in part because they then would have to give the same airtime to Trump, and all the wild unpredictability that might entail from an editorial perspective.

[…]

The president has complicated editorial decisions for TV executives in part because of his penchant for peddling lies, misinformation, and conspiracy theories. Networks have come under intense scrutiny from media critics and Democrats for giving Trump unfiltered air time to spread propaganda and/or failing to fact-check some of his more dangerous claims in real-time.

Oh dear. Scrutiny from “media critics”? Criticism from Democrats? We can’t have that.

The Daily Beast did speak to one media veteran who wasn’t quite convinced that the networks are limiting their DNC coverage just because they don’t want to give Trump airtime.

“I would be very skeptical of that theory of why the networks are carrying them for only one hour,” said former anchor Dan Rather. “I’m not cynical about it, but I’m skeptical because the networks in recent times never wanted to give the conventions very much time, because they can cram in more commercials with even deadwood content.”

Well, this is true as well. And especially this year, when the convention has been about as exciting as watching paint dry, we’re sure the networks are looking for any excuse to pull out and air repeats of old reality shows. It certainly makes more sense than the idea that ABC, CBS, and NBC – all of which gleefully ran wild with the Russia hoax – are suddenly concerned with their airwaves being used to spread “misinformation and conspiracy theories.”