A group of major news organizations, including the Associated Press and five major broadcast and cable networks, issued an unusual joint statement Sunday urging President Biden and former President Donald J. Trump to participate in a televised debate before Election Day. I urge you to do so.
“General election debates have a rich tradition in American democracy,” the group wrote. “There is no substitute for candidates discussing their vision for our country’s future with each other and in front of the American people.”
Rarely do news organizations give such explicit consideration to a presidential candidate's campaign plans. The statement highlights the amount of uncertainty there is over whether this year's debate will take place.
Biden has declined to participate in three debates scheduled for September and October. His allies have raised concerns about the Commission on Presidential Debates, a bipartisan group that has organized the event since 1988, and its ability to enforce its rules when Trump attends. .
Trump has promised to debate and regularly mocks Biden for not following through. But in 2020, Trump withdrew at the last minute and forced the cancellation of the second debate. Trump last year refused to debate his primary Republican opponent, accusing the debate panel of being biased in favor of Biden.
If a debate is not held in 2024, it would end the streak dating back to the 1976 election between Jimmy Carter and Gerald R. Ford. Presidential debates remain America's largest mass gathering outside of sports, with an average audience of 68 million viewers in 2020. The two Biden-Trump debates drew far more viewers than the party's nominating conventions.
The news organizations' plans to issue a joint statement were reported last week by The New York Times.
In addition to ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, and Fox News, the following news organizations also supported this statement: Associated Press, C-SPAN, NewsNation, NPR, PBS NewsHour, USA Today, and Spanish news division Noticias Univision – Language network.
(A Newsmax spokesperson volunteered to the Times last week that the right-wing news channel agreed with the statement, although it was not an official signatory.)
The statement noted that the dates and eligibility requirements for this year's competition were previously announced by the debate committee.
“Although it is too early to extend invitations to any candidates, candidates who are expected to meet the eligibility criteria have publicly announced their support and intent to participate in the committee's debates scheduled for this fall. “It is not too early to make a statement,” the statement said.
