Mark Green Comments on Nevada Democratic Party’s Invitation for Fox News to Host Dem’s Debate

Dear Listener:

Our new team at Air America Radio has followed with interest the controversy in Nevada after the Democratic Party there invited Fox News to host its first presidential debate. MoveOn.org has both prominently protested this decision and urged the Nevada Democratic Party to ask us at AAR to co-host the debate. In response, Fox has said that it would consider having one AAR person on a panel with three Fox people.

To state the obvious: Fox is a feisty conservative cable network and Air America is a feisty progressive radio network. Surely a man whose media skills I admire, Roger Ailes, wouldn't disagree with that.

As its new president and one who has appeared periodically on Fox News, I would be interested in co-sponsoring a debate among the Democrats running for President; but not in a way that AAR would be outweighed as tokens in a largely Fox line-up. Only together could a panel of questioners be "fair and balanced."

So if the powers-that-be in Nevada would like to talk to us about combining our 2 million radio audience with Fox's TV audience -- and in a way that doesn’t tilt to any one side – we would of course be honored and interested in discussing this further.

Mark Green
President, Air America Radio