We want you face to face in a presidential debate

In an unprecedented move, the five major US broadcast and news networks have prepared a joint open letter urging President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump to participate in televised debates ahead of the upcoming presidential election in November, according to two sources with direct knowledge of their plans who told the New York Times. American.

The letter, which was endorsed by ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC and Fox News, poses to the public a question within the media and political circles: “Is the era of presidential debates over?” It is one of the country’s last remaining collective civic rituals in an era of intense political polarization.

“We, the undersigned national news organizations, urge the presumptive presidential nominees to publicly commit to participating in the general election debates before the November election,” the letter said, according to a draft copy obtained by The New York Times.

President Biden has refused to commit to participating in the three debates scheduled to be held in September and October. His aides say they are concerned that the Commission on Presidential Debates, the nonpartisan group that has been regulating television broadcasts since 1988, will not be able to enforce the rules when Trump takes the stage.

Trump pledged to hold the debate, and resorted to mocking President Biden for not following suit. But Trump’s record is mixed: In 2020, he withdrew from a debate against Biden at the last minute, leading to its cancellation, and in the last Republican primary, he refused to appear on stage with his opponents.

“The TV networks’ message was orchestrated as a reaction to uncertainty,” said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“General election debates have a rich tradition in our American democracy, having played a vital role in every presidential election over the past 50 years beginning in 1976. In each of those elections, tens of millions have watched the candidates debate, in a contest,” the draft letter said. Ideas, to get the votes of American citizens.”

It is noteworthy that the first debate between Trump and Hillary Clinton in 2016 was the highest-rated ever, as it was watched by 84 million people.

In 2020, an average of 68 million people watched the Biden-Trump debates, far more than the number of people who watched political conventions or the State of the Union address. (Arabic)