by Mark MacGillivray
In a move that mirrors the exclusion of the Green Party from Leadership Debates in Canada, MSNBC in the United States made a last-minute change in its Las Vegas Democrat Debate format to exclude candidate Dennis Kucinich, noted for his opposition to nuclear power and the War in Iraq.
Initially, MSNBC had planned on holding the debate with the top four Democratic candidates, but when candidate Bill Richardson dropped out of the race, they changed their format to include only 3 top candidates.
The Kucinich campaign took MSNBC to court, arguing, “The exclusion of Kucinich undermines the purposes of the Federal Communications Act and is a blatant violation of the Act because of the media’s obligation to operate in the public interest… NBC revised its criteria to specifically exclude the diverse and anti-war voice of Kucinich and his grass-roots supporters.” The lawsuit went on to say, “The debate is not a true presidential primary debate without including all credible candidates, but instead is effectively an endorsement of the candidates selected by NBC.”
NBC, who incidentally is owned by General Electric, claimed: “Mr. Kucinich’s claim is nothing more than an illegitimate private cause of action designed to impose an equal access requirement that entirely undermines the wide journalistic freedoms enjoyed by news organizations under the First Amendment.” Attorneys for NBC also argued, “A television station does not have to grant unlimited access to a candidate debate. If anyone’s First Amendment rights are being infringed, they are MSNBC’s.”
But, thanks to the internet and the efforts of Democracy Now!, we can get a measure of the man who was excluded.
Listen here!
The most serious allegation Kucinich makes is …
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