FCC Complaints For the 2016 Primary Debates (muckrock.com)

v3rgEz writes: Wish that you could have tuned into all the primary debates without a cable subscription? You're not alone. According to MuckRock analysis of primary-related FCC complaints, that was one of the most common complaints, as well as allegations of corporate bias, candidate preferences by the networks, and general gripes about how corporate supposedly open debates have become. I wish there was a database to consult for complaints about the U.S. primary system, too.

Comments

Re:Corporate bias?

[khasim]

The US has (thankfully) never been a democracy. It is a constitutional republic.

That claim keeps popping up. It's wrong.

We are "constitutional" because we have a Constitution. But that a bit of a tautology.

"Republic" means that we are not a monarchy.

We have a "representative democracy" where laws are voted upon by "representatives" who are voted for by our citizens.

Re:Corporate bias?

[GLMDesigns]

There's a lot pf 18th C literature, including the Federalist Papers, which elaborates on the issue. The distinction between a republic and a democracy is carefully laid out. In short a democracy is where a majority can pass anything that suits their fancy; the phrase "Constitutional Republic" was created to show how this new experiment was to differ. Namely that the powers of the FEDERAL government were carefully enumerated and thus limiting the power of both government and majority. Hence - NOT a democracy.