Citizens Clean Elections Commission picks new broadcast partner for 2024 candidate debates
The sponsor of high-profile candidate debates has chosen a new partner to host the events after controversy and cancellations in the 2022 election cycle.
The Citizens Clean Elections Commission picked the non-profit Arizona Media Association to collaborate with it and the Phoenix advertising agency Riester on 29 political debates in 2024. The association, a trade coalition of the state's broadcasting, print and digital news industry, replaces Arizona PBS as the commission's broadcast partner.
Debates for Arizona's Aug. 6 primary election will happen in the early summer, the association said. Debates ahead of the Nov. 5 general election will follow in September and October. Any statewide media brand will be able to air the debates, which will be simulcast with a Spanish translation and include an ASL interpreter.
"We are committed to the most successful debate season possible," Chris Kline, Arizona Media Association president and CEO, said in a written statement. "We want to make it easy for audiences to get access to this information. Building a network of local media support during this election year is our shared solution."
The five-member commission runs the state's public campaign financing program, among other duties. Candidates who use public financing are obligated to participate in debates. For years, it has used Arizona PBS as its broadcast partner.
In 2022, a day before a much-anticipated debate between the Republican gubernatorial candidates, Kari Lake complained about Arizona Republic reporter Stacey Barchenger's role as a co-moderator.
The commission had set up the debate with Ted Simons, host of the PBS station's Arizona Horizon program, as the sole moderator. But less than 24 hours before the debate started, the candidates, as well as the commission, learned that Barchenger had been added as a co-host.
Given Lake's objection, the commission announced it would drop Barchenger from the program "in the interest of fairness." The debate proceeded with all four candidates and Simons as the only moderator.
It was unclear whether the decision to exclude Barchenger was made by the commission, Arizona PBS or both.
Months later, after Lake won the GOP nomination for governor, the commission canceled a scheduled one-on-one interview between Lake and Simons. That's because the commission had learned that Arizona PBS had granted Democrat Katie Hobbs a solo appearance with Simons after Hobbs had refused to share a debate stage with Lake.
The Hobbs interview was news to the commission, too. It issued a statement saying PBS had broken from "our shared practice" by offering Hobbs a separate interview. Arizona PBS said it had invited both candidates to separate appearances on Arizona Horizon and that the arrangement was separate from its agreement to broadcast debates hosted by the commission.
The debate misfires led the commission to search for a new partner to broadcast its candidate debates.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Commission picks Arizona Media Association as 2024 debates partner
