Brokaw Blasts Debate Plans

Tom Brokaw has taken umbrage with remarks by Janet Brown, executive director of the debate commission, that the nightly news anchors of the major networks were not suitable to moderate the presidential and vice presidential debates because "they would overshadow the events." Brown made her remarks last Friday in an interview in the New York Times, in which she also said, "It's important for the moderators to focus attention on the candidates."

In a letter to Brown that was disclosed in today's (Friday) New York Daily News, Brokaw said that the Times account "leaves the undeniable impression that you believe if we were moderators, we'd be preening, egocentric performers. ... I deeply resent that implication." He pointed out that he himself has interviewed candidates for the presidency on numerous occasions and "Not once did candidates, campaigns or press critics suggest I was more concerned with my role than with the role of the candidates."

Regarding the commission's decision to select ABC's Charles Gibson, CBS's Bob Schieffer and PBS's Jim Lehrer and Gwen Ifill as moderators, Brokaw said: "I am particularly outraged that the commission failed to choose anyone from NBC News personnel for a moderator's role. ... For a commission that has assumed primary power in the exercise of the democratic process, you have a peculiarly autocratic style."

-- source: Sudio Briefing @ IMDB

You tell 'em, Brokaw!