Liberal groups are asking television network executives to implement a one-minute delay on their broadcasts of this week’s Republican National Convention in the interest of thwarting purported misinformation.
Ultraviolet, a liberal women’s group, led a coalition of liberal groups including NARAL Pro-Choice America, and EMILY’s List, to request the TV executives do not allow their networks to broadcast the GOP convention in the same manner they did for last week’s Democratic National Convention.
The liberal groups told ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN and MSNBC that the groups recognize the networks have a professional responsibility to provide equal time to adversarial political parties, but they want the networks to “actively fact check and debunk dangerous disinformation in real-time and stop it from spreading.”
“Make no mistake the Republican National Convention’s programming will be a primary source of dangerous disinformation about everything from voting rights, to racial justice and police violence, to medical disinformation and dangerous medical falsehoods about the pandemic,” the liberal groups wrote. “It is likely that this information will also include racist and sexist attacks designed to stoke division and hatred. We know this because we have seen it before.”
The liberal groups wrote that implementing a 1-minute delay would allow for the networks to “prevent the American people from being lied to,” and the groups argue that the future of the country is at stake.
“This cheap stunt from the radical left won’t stop the American people from hearing this truth: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris advocate for a far-left agenda while President Trump and Vice President Pence will always defend our freedoms and rebuild our economy back to historic levels of growth,” said Steve Guest, Republican National Committee spokesperson, in an email.
The television network executives have not made any such public commitment to tailor their broadcasting plans to meet activists’ desires.
