The Democratic National Committee threw a tantrum when they discovered that a certain reporter with ties to conservative media would be moderating one of their debates in December. Apparently, Politico’sTim Alberta, a seemingly odd target, who has ties to conservative media is problematic. Alberta had worked for National Review and he covers the GOP for Politico magazine. Again, still hearing waiting to hear reasons for why this is such an issue that isn’t grounded in nonsense (via NBC News):
The Democratic National Committee and the news organization Politico are locked in an argument over the ideological credentials of a proposed moderator for next month's Democratic debate, sources familiar with the matter told NBC News.
Politico and PBS are scheduled to co-host the sixth Democratic primary debate on Dec. 19 in Los Angeles.
At the behest of its publisher, Robert Allbritton, Politico is pushing for Tim Alberta, the chief political correspondent for Politico Magazine, to join journalists from PBS Newshour at the moderators' desk. The top PBS journalists under consideration are Judy Woodruff, Yamiche Alcindor and Amna Nawaz.
Politico’s decision to push for Alberta has rankled officials at the DNC, as well as some journalists at PBS and even Politico, the sources said. The reason: Alberta previously wrote for National Review, a conservative magazine, and has spent the bulk of his recent career chronicling the Republican Party.
Democratic Party officials say such a journalist is ill-suited to co-moderate a debate meant to better inform Democratic voters about their potential nominees.
Oh, so did this get the legions of liberal reporters to defend the DNC? Nope. In fact, it had the opposite effect. While some know that Alberta may have conservative leanings, he’s a consummate professional—and writers from The Guardian, The Washington Post, and The New Yorker all voiced their support for Alberta (via Fox News):
Many journalists blasted the DNC over the reported pushback.
"It is outrageous that anyone from within Politico, PBS, or DNC should object to the questioning of @TimAlberta," The Hill's chief Washington correspondent Saagar Enjeti reacted. "Ask any Republican who has felt the lash of his pen whether he can be critical of the other side. He would be a welcome addition to the stage."
Others defended Alberta, including Washington Post reporter Seung Min Kim who wrote that Alberta "is a fantastic journalist and I will vouch for his fairness, integrity and smarts any day," and Jewish Insider senior political reporter Ben Jacobs, calling Alberta "one of the best journalists covering politics in America today."
1. @TimAlberta is one of the most knowledgeable people in political journalism, and has brilliantly covered the GOP and conservative movement.
— Bill Scher (@billscher) November 18, 2019
2. If he happened to ask a question from a conservative perspective, Democrats should hope their candidates can handle it. https://t.co/bhKGP43b6t
PBS objects to @TimAlberta as a debate co-moderator because he used to write for @NRO ... but stay with me here ... Wouldn't it be a good thing for Democratic voters to see how their primary candidates respond to well-informed yet *challenging* questions? https://t.co/xVCsgwPB0v
— David Martosko (@dmartosko) November 18, 2019
Obviously @TimAlberta has conservative beliefs but he's a good reporter who follows high journalistic standards. Seems wrong to exclude him https://t.co/YvtkX7QeWa
— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) November 18, 2019
Dems are going to get absolutely demolished in the general if they can’t handle Tim Alberta in a primary debate.
— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) November 18, 2019
Hey, DNC, this probably wasn’t the hill to die on. I mean, I know you want all of your moderators to be partisan leftys but this isn’t going to derail your 2020 plans. The current crop of communists you have running is doing a stellar job of that already with an agenda that is immensely unpopular, unworkable, unaffordable, and far too left for anyone outside of the progressive bastions of America, which isn’t saying much for broad-based appeal.