Republican Political Hacks have and use power over the media

Once upon a time, groups like the League of Women Voters sponsored the debates, and all cameras were welcome to cover them.  But starting in 1988, the Democratic and Republican parties  wrested control of the process.  Since then, the general election debates have had an aura of patriotic respectability, but  in reality they’ve been run by  the same folks who’ve earned an eight percent approval rating for Congress.  The primary debates have become cash cows for the networks, interest groups and faux think tanks.  They’re spectacles that provide free media to candidates, attract eyeballs to sell to advertisers and offer co-branding opportunities to burnish the images of the evenings’ co-sponsors.  The right question isn’t whether NBC’s miniseries would put a finger on the scale.  It’s why the hell a political party should be permitted to use the money that can be milked from the democratic process as a bargaining chip.

http://www.alternet.org/media/jon-stewart-slayed-cnns-hack-filled-political-show-crossfire-and-now-its-coming-back-grave?akid=10851.294211.nWAKwv&rd=1&src=newsletter887898&t=5