FBN Announces GOP Debate Participants

Fox Business Network has announced the participants in the Jan. 14 Republican debate it is airing according to who finished in the top six in an average of recent national polls.

They are Donald Trump;  Sens. Ted Cruz; and Marco Rubio; Dr. Ben Carson; New Jersey Governor Chris Christie; Jeb Bush; and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) did not make the list, and told CNN he would boycott the undercard debate for the remaining candidates: Paul, Carly Fiorina; Mike Huckabee; and Rick Santorum.

"I don’t think the media should have the power to predetermine elections," Paul told CNN Monday (Jan. 11). He thought FBN had made a mistake by "pre-deciding to exclude certain people from the stage, and that he would make that point in protest over the next couple of days.

As to the undercard, he said: "I won't participate in anything that wasn't fist tier because we have a first tier campaign."

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.