Right-Wing Bloggers Launch Campaign -- With MoveOn! -- Against Fox News Over Debate Footage

TPM

This is interesting: A coalition of right-wing bloggers and MoveOn that helped force several networks to allow public use of their political debate footage last spring has just launched a similar campaign against Fox News.

Fox recently sent letters to all the GOP Presidential candidates "cease and desist" from using Fox footage in any way. In response, the right-wing bloggers and MoveOn are demanding that Fox rescind these cease and desist orders and allow public use of its debate footage.

In a press release just blasted out by MoveOn, RedState.com founder Eric Erickson, a prominent right-wing blogger, is quoted saying: "Already FOX is viewed as a partisan network by the Democrats, who will not use that forum for debates...Every other news organization has liberated their debate footage and FOX should either be no different or no longer have the privilege of airing debates."

The primary concern of the right-wing bloggers seems to be that if they can't use Fox debate footage on their sites, it hampers their ability to comment on the GOP primary and on politics in general. MoveOn, for its part, opposes Fox because its refusal to allow use of debate footage could "stifle debate."

One reason this campaign is interesting is that similar version of this alliance has had success before. After it launched a similar campaign last spring and gained considerable attention, CNN, ABC and NBC all agreed to allow use of its debate footage.

The new campaign could cause Fox considerable discomfort, since it isn't every day that the conservative network finds itself targeted by winger bloggers -- much less an alliance of wingers and MoveOn. It's also joined by a prominent Republican, former Republican FEC Chair Brad Smith.

"Whatever its legal obligations, FOX would perform a public service and enhance its reputation by making its debate footage available to the public at large," Smith said in the press release sent out by MoveOn.

Fox's cease-and-desist letters were sent to all the GOP candidates after we reported over at The Horse's Mouth that Fox had demanded John McCain yank all Fox footage from his site while not making the same demand of Mitt Romney or of Rudy Giuliani, who's a close friend of Fox chief Roger Ailes..........