Athens Libertarian Michele Turner Weighs in On the Raycom Media Debacle

Hey Raycom.


This ain't over yet.


Another voice for Liberty takes the media moguls down at Raycom to task for excluding Libertarian John Monds from last nights Gubernatorial debate.


Right is right and wrong is wrong. Raycom was wrong.


Here are Ms. Turners thoughts on the matter.





Mr. Wilcox,
Your response and rationale is extraordinarily disturbing and continues to illustrate the media's increased delusion at their role in the election process. The idea that it is appropriate for any news provider, including WALB or Raycom Media, to exclude a candidate that has been previously vetted by the office of the secretary of state is ludicrous. It is the job of the state to determine who is a qualified candidate in any given race. It is your job to objectively report facts, to the best of your ability, about those candidates to the public so that they can determine who they will support in those races.

Likewise, if a news organization elects to host any additional forums, debates, etc. all qualified candidates should be included in that process. Any decision to do otherwise is simply an indication of that news outlet playing partisan politics in favor of mainstream political parties which could not be further from your misguided "attempt" to eliminate mockery from the election process.

John Monds has already participated in a number of debates throughout the state of Georgia, including the debate hosted by Georgia Public Broadcasting. He has treated those debates, and his fellow candidates, with respect and has honorably represented the ideals of the Libertarian Party. Your implication that his presence or involvement would result in anything other than that (such as the NYC mayoral debate) is simply a futile attempt to explain away your purposeful exclusion of him. The only other conclusion that can be drawn is that WALB and Raycom Media have determined that Albany area voters are not intellectual enough to be presented with all qualified options in this election and that it is your role to provide them with the candidates they should consider. This could not be further from the truth and I seriously doubt that Albany voters would find this acceptable.

Your actions are a disservice to voters of the state of Georgia, the citizens in the Albany region and your advertisers that spend their resources attempting to reach the widest possible audience in those areas. This exclusion incident is already circulating on blogs and via facebook and it is unfortunate that your advertisers will undoubtedly be the ones to suffer from the misguided, delusional and unethical insertion of yourselves into the Georgia political process.