A day after he enters District 12 race, Chris Hedges drops out
Chirs Hedges, the Green Party candidate who announced on Wednesday that he would challenge Democratic U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman in the 12th District race this year, said on Twitter Thursday that he was dropping out already.
Hedges, a Princeton resident, said he was informed Thursday that according to FCC rules, he can’t run for federal office and have a national TV show. “I entered the race to bring up issues I care about, but this is not worth losing an important media platform,” Hedges wrote.
“I entered the race to challenge the corruption of the Democratic Party, especially the Democratic Party machine in New Jersey, one of the worst in the nation,” he wrote. “It was never about winning, but raising public awareness and building popular opposition to the ruling political elites that will not be successful in the limited span of one election cycle, but must begin to take root.”
Hedges is an author, journalist, and activist. He hosts a weekly interview show called “On Contact” that airs “dissident voices currently missing from the mainstream media.” The show is broadcast on RT, formerly called “Russia Today,” a Russian government-funded international television network. Hedges was also an author at Truthdig, and has written several books.
Krystal Knapp is the founding editor of Planet Princeton. Follow her on Twitter @krystalknapp. She can be reached via email at editor AT planetprinceton.com. Send all letters to the editor and press releases to that email address.
Too bad, but Mr. Hedges is correct: we need to be able to keep hearing from him.
Chris Hedges is no longer at Truthdig. There was an internal “civil war” at Truthdig and all or most of its contributors quit in protest at the Publisher and CEO, Zuade Kaufman.
Truthdig is currently in “hiatus,” I’d say it’s more like an induced coma and close to total nonexistence. Hedges still has his voice and his “pen” with which to spread his wisdom and message. Wishing him the best, we do need his voice.
The issue is not that he’s a TV host – it’s that his employer, RT, has been forced by the US government to register as a foreign agent.
While my excitement induced by hearing Chris was possibly going to have a voice in Congress was orgasmic, I understand. Hoping we will continue to hear gis thoughts on continuing American saga
I think Chris Hedges is not telling the truth here. He doesn’t specify what FCC rules apply here. FCC rules do ask candidates to reveal who is sponsoring him and he’d need to guarantee the other candidates also get air time and equal treatment on his show. Maybe he is trying to hide who is sponsoring him? Conflict of interest with RT?
Chris Hedges always tells the truth. The FCC has rules that prevent people from being involved in a media network while also running for office. Of course the FCC makes exceptions for Donal Trump and other members of the Establishment, but the FCC will never give someone like Hedges a fair playing field.
Hedges must instead use his popularity and platform to support someone else to unseat the corporate sycophants that permeate our political landscape. People are fed up with the two corporate parties, but until the public has a real alternative to cast a vote for… as we’ll as something resembling media coverage, it will be difficult to elect people who represent the majority of Americans.
Chris — Run a pretend campaign. Tell us every day what you would do differently, how you would campaign against the entrenched, against the corrupt. Make it a. shadow campaign that still sends the same message!!
I wondered where Hedges would reappear. I’m surprised he would lower himself to compete for a place in a system he denounced tirelessly. Now he wants to help steady the ship of state he helped set fire to. Typical
So many sour pusses! Chris Hedges is an American treasure having served as the NY Times Middle East Bureau Chief for many years. It is no thanks to sour puss readers of the NY Times that Chris Hedges lost his job at the NY Times.
An informed public is a civically responsible public.
I refuse to bury my head in the sand!