Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) will hold a live streamed town hall focused on health care later this month, and he expects it to have a larger viewership than if he coordinated with a television network.
Progressive video outlets NowThis, Attn: and the Young Turks will stream Sanders' 90 minute "national town hall" on Jan. 23, the Washington Post reports.
Normally such events are broadcast on cable television.
"We expect that we’ll have a larger viewing audience for this live stream than we’d have if we’d run it on, say, CNN," Sanders said. "That’s revolutionary. You can have this discussion even if the owners of the big media companies don’t want to have it."
Sanders acknowledged he had spoken to someone at a television network about the town hall, but didn't hear back.
"I talked to a very well-known TV journalist, and I said: ‘You know, I think it’d be really great to have a town hall on single payer. You can design it however you want,’" Sanders said. "He said, ‘Bernie, that’s a great idea. We’ll run it up the food chain.’ I never heard back."
Sanders expressed envy at the "Republican media world," arguing progressives and Democrats don't have the same media support.
"I think there is an envy on the part of progressives, and most Democrats, of the Republican media world," said Sanders. "They have Fox News, of course. They have the Rupert Murdoch papers. You’ve got Sinclair, which is acquiring more all the time. So we’re up against enormous opposition. And what many Democrats are beginning to sense is that you have to break through that. And what we’re trying to do here is ahead of the curve."
The "Medicare for All" sponsor will conduct the town hall from the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center and will take questions from viewers during the event.