The Republican National Committee made good on their chairman's threats from two weeks ago on Friday; the group voted to boycott CNN and NBC during their presidential debates if the networks go forward with scheduled programs about Hillary Clinton, according to Fox News.
CNN is working on a documentary about the Clintons while NBC had planned a mini-series starring Diane Lane as Hillary Clinton. In comments made earlier in the month RNC chairman Reince Priebus said that airing the programs would basically be an "in-kind donation" for the Clinton campaign.
"We're done putting up with this nonsense," Priebus said. "There are plenty of other outlets. We'll still reach voters, maybe more voters. But CNN and NBC anchors will just have to watch on their competitors' networks. The media overplayed their hand this time."
The resolution was unanimously approved by a voice vote during the summer meeting in Boston, Mass. Following the vote Priebus received a standing ovation, according to Politico.
While dissecting what went wrong for the Republican Party in 2012 Priebus found that "there have been too many debates, and they took place to early." By choosing which networks the debates air on the RNC is able to pick moderators that will avoid asking "gotcha" questions so that their candidates look favorable. The possibility of a pundit such as Rush Limbaugh hosting a debate has been brought up publicly, according to NBC News.
"We don't have the time for the media's games, and really it goes beyond the debates. They want to make a family discussion look like division," Priebus said. "For the first time, our party rules allow us to take action on these debates. So it's time that we do what's right for our party and our candidates. And, by the way, it's the right thing to do for our voters."
When Priebus first mentioned the possibility of a ban NBC News made a statement saying that they operate completely independently of the entertainment department and had no part in creating the Clinton mini-series.
"NBC Entertainment has many projects in development, and this particular mini-series - which has nothing to do with the NBC News division - is in the very early stages," a statement from NBC Entertainment released last week said. "The script has not been written nor has it been ordered into production. It would be premature to draw any conclusions or make any assumptions about it at this time."
