When everyone gets their news and entertainment online, that won’t be a problem, but for now many people still watch broadcast TV. The party needs the networks to reach them, and the networks demand that the party use their anchors as moderators.
You have that backwards.
The “News departments” at Networks exist wholly to provide “news” content. They must-have a never ending stream of fresh content constantly. The notion that they would black out a major party debate because they were not allowed to pick the moderators is absurd nonsense. If they tried it, their competitors would gleefully seize on the access they refusing
It part of the excessive beta male mentality at the top of the GOP-E that they have no idea at all how to use their power.
We're at the point now where we can stream the debate live on YouTube, Facebook or Twitter.
The Networks shouldn't have their way and demand that we use their reporters.