Media barred from private congressional debate in south Ala.
Despite a looming election for an open Congressional seat, members of the press were barred from attending a debate hosted by the Mobile Chamber and two TV networks on Monday inside Mobile’s Government Plaza, a public venue the debate hosts were allowed to use for free.
The private event was closed to members of the public, including the press, if they had not “pre-registered” to attend, according to Mobilebased WALA-TV Fox 10 general manager Eric Duncan.
“We’re not allowing other press into the room,” said Duncan, as he refused entry to an Al.com reporter.
The event featured both Republican and Democratic candidates locked in a runoff for the newly configured 2nd District in south Alabama.
“If it was being aired tonight, I would not have an issue with it,” Duncan told Al.com, saying the debate was being recorded and would run later. “We’re not airing it for a few days.”
What if a candidate dropped out of the race, said something that affected the race, or otherwise made news of interest to voters? Duncan said the two Fox affiliates “will cover it.”
Mobile County owns and administers the venue. Jay Ross, the Mobile County Commission’s attorney, said earlier on Monday that the Mobile Chamber was not allowing other members of the media to attend due to “space limitations” in the auditorium.
Duncan said there was available seating inside the auditorium, but refused entry.
The county said it is reassessing how it will allow organizations to use the public space after learning the media was barred from attending an event of public interest in which the hosts were not charged a rental fee, according to Ross.
The runoff is April 16. Duncan was vague about when the debate will air.
“We’ll edit and cut,” Duncan said, quickly adding that the TV station did not plan to edit out what the candidates say but that editing included adding commercial time into the broadcast.
“We’re going to air it closer to the election,” he said.
REFUSAL FALLOUT
The race features four candidates in a two-way runoff for the newly drawn district the U.S. Supreme Court recently forced Alabama to create, a district covering much of the Black Belt and rural areas between Montgomery and Mobile. The seat is considered competitive during the general election, and the race could play a crucial role in determining which political party holds the majority next year in the U.S. House.
At least one of the four candidates seemed unaware local press could not attend. Democratic candidate Shomari Figures, following a news conference in which he touted endorsements from the Mobile County legislative delegation, asked an Al.com journalist if he was planning to cover the debate.
Drew Dixon, who is with Republican Caroleene Dobson’s campaign, described the structure as an “unusual” approach, but one that had agreement from all four candidates and representatives with the two state political parties. A representative with Republican candidate Dick Brewbaker did not return a call for comment. The other candidate in the contest is Democratic state Rep. Anthony Daniels.
In fact, the Mobile County
Republican executive committee invited the press to attend its meeting inside Government Plaza in which state party chairman John Wahl was scheduled to speak right before the GOP candidates were scheduled to debate.
Ross, the county’s attorney, said he was unaware of the attendance restrictions. He said the county was “uncompensated” for the venue, meaning the Chamber and the TV stations had access of the public venue at no cost.
“The chamber was given the room to use,” Ross told Al.com. “It was uncompensated. We’re not in control of … the content of (the debate). But I think this may give the county the option, after this is over, to spend a little more time and (discuss how we) allocate resources.”
He added, “It is the preference of the county commission to open it up, if not for the public by invitations, to (at least) allow the media to be in there. This gives us pause to re-evaluate how we do it. If it’s free, then maybe they’ll mandate it is opened to the public.”
Duncan said the public could pre-register to attend.
“There were no rules as to who could come to the debate,” Duncan said. “Some people did pre-register to come to the debate. I can tell you this, if you pre-registered to come, I don’t think I could’ve kept you out.”
But there was no notification sent out to other media organizations to allow for pre-registration.
Typically debates are open to the public and, if broadcast, carried live. It’s unusual for media to be turned away.
Ross said county commissioners, despite getting invitations to attend, were not aware of the “structure of this.”
“The commission didn’t know it was going to be scheduled like this,” Ross said. “They want to keep it as open as they can to the public.”
FUELING APATHY
Denise Curtis, a spokeswoman with the Mobile Chamber, said the reason no other media was invited was because the event was “in partnership” with WSFA-TV in Montgomery and WALA-TV in Mobile.
Bradley Byrne, a former Republican member of the U.S. House is the Chamber’s president & CEO. He was not immediately available for comment on Monday.
Jonathan Gray, a longtime political consultant along the Alabama Gulf Coast, called the Mobile Chamber’s approach “tomfoolery,” by allowing a local TV station “dictate the terms of educating the local community on the most important election in the last decade.”
“They would have more awareness and education had they invited all media outlets in Mobile to video it, livestream it, or broadcast it,” Gray said. “That should be the goal of the Mobile Chamber or any entity.”
He added, “I cannot fault Fox 10. They were given an exclusive. That’s fantastic for them. But Mobile is behind the times. That is why we are seeing huge voter apathy out of Mobile. This event is clearly indicative of a community suffering from apathy.”
Indeed, statistics show voter turnout is anemic in Mobile. Turnout during the primary election was low statewide, but especially so in Mobile County where only 18.6% of the votingage population cast a ballot in the 2nd district contest on March 5. Montgomery County, by comparison, had 38,592 voters show up — more than in Mobile County despite having 21,000 fewer voting age residents living in the 2nd district.
The last time there was a major runoff election was in 2022, when only 8.4% of registered voters in Mobile County showed up in an election that included statewide contests for U.S. Senate and governor. The statewide average was 13%.
Gray said it’s been over a decade since a political race saw an energized electorate in Mobile — in 2013, when Sandy Stimpson defeated incumbent Sam Jones in the Mobile mayoral election.
“I’m glad the Chamber did something here,” Gray said. “But when you tell the public they are not allowed to come in, especially when part of that public is the media and they want to publicize and communicate what you’re doing, then you’ve done something wrong.”