CNN: RNC opposition to Hillary film 'premature'

Martha T. Moore | USA TODAY

A CNN spokeswoman said Monday a Republican National Committee demand that the network kill a planned Hillary Rodham Clinton documentary is "premature" because the film is still in early stages of development.

Republican Party Chairman Reince Priebus has threatened not to let CNN and NBC participate in Republican presidential primary debates in 2016 if the networks don't drop plans for programs about Clinton, a possible presidential candidate.

Priebus has sent letters to CNN, which plans a documentary on Clinton, and NBC, which plans a miniseries about her starring Diane Lane, claiming the programs are "a thinly veiled attempt to put a thumb on the scales'' for the 2016 election. The networks must cancel the shows by Aug.14 when a Republican National Committee meeting convenes, or the party will vote to ban them from sponsoring primary debates, Priebus wrote.

Priebus' letter assumes NBC's miniseries will be favorable to Clinton because, he says, executives of Comcast, NBC's parent, have been Democratic donors. To CNN, he said, "I call on you to cancel this political ad masquerading as an unbiased production.''

CNN spokeswoman Allison Gollust said the project is still under development and RNC members should "reserve judgment until they know more." She added, "Should they decide not to participate in debates on CNN, we would find it curious, as limiting their debate participation seems to be the ultimate disservice to voters."

The RNC sees no free-speech infringement in its request. "We have the right to pick who has our debates,'' spokesperson Kirsten Kukowski said. "The networks have a right to make their decision and we can act accordingly."

Cutting off NBC and CNN from primary debates would serve one of the GOP's goals: to limit the number of times the Republican candidates face off against each other. In the 2012 campaign, GOP candidates participated in 20 debates. In its postmortem report after the election, the RNC proposed limiting party-sanctioned debates to 10 or 12. "The number of debates has become ridiculous,'' the report said. "They're taking candidates away from other important campaign activities.'

NBC responded that the Clinton miniseries comes from the network's entertainment division, while political coverage is handled by its news division. "NBC News is completely independent of NBC Entertainment and has no involvement in this project," points out NBC News spokeswoman Erika Masonhall. NBC's entertainment division declined to comment on the matter.

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