On the heels of the BS attempts at private control of public discourse, the Open Debate Coalition is calling for a number of reforms to the US presidential debate process:
(1) Make raw footage of the debates part of the public domain, so that journalists, bloggers, and citizens can access it without concerns about a major network slamming them with a copyright suit. (2) Allow citizens to vote for questions in advance using the internet, so that town halls aren’t conducted at the whim of a moderator. And (3) reform or replace the Commission on Presidential Debates, a group which declines to make information on its funders public and has not released the debate rules to which both presidential campaigns have reportedly agreed.
I’m completely onboard with the first and third points. I like the idea behind the second, but wonder whether it would be too difficult to actually implement. The reasons behind my support for the first point are obvious, I hope – our political discourse should never be subject to the property claims or private control of anyone. As to the third, did you know about this?
This is not a commission that holds itself to iron-clad ethics rules. Anheuser-Busch has sponsored the presidential debates in every cycle since 1996 — as a result, its hometown, St. Louis, has hosted at least one debate in all but one of the last five presidential elections. Reports the Center for Public Integrity, “For its $550,000 contribution in 2000, the beer company was permitted to distribute pamphlets against taxes on beer at the event.”
I’m not really opposed to Anheuser Busch passing out its flyers – but what are the chances, you think, that any other flyers were permitted?
Free the presidential debates. More info here.