Exec. producer tells fishbowl DC that Meet the Press "would certainly be open" to interviewing Bob Barr

In a May 15 post to the mediabistro.com blog fishbowl DC, editor Patrick W. Gavin reported that in response to his inquiry following up on a Media Matters for America item asking whether NBC Washington bureau chief Tim Russert would give Libertarian presidential candidate and former Republican congressman Bob Barr (GA) the same platform on Meet the Press that Russert gave Ralph Nader, Meet the Press executive producer Betsy Fischer asserted, "We would certainly be open to having Rep. Barr back on Meet the Press to discuss his candidacy."

The fishbowl DC blog post:

Will "Meet" Book Barr?

MediaMatters asks an interesting question: "Will Russert offer Libertarian candidate Barr the same Meet the Press platform he gave Nader?"

"Meet the Press" Executive Producer Betsy Fischer tells FishbowlDC:

Meet the Press has a long history of interviewing third party presidential candidates ... Ralph Nader, Ross Perot, Harry Browne (Libertarian Pres. Candidate), John Hagelin and Howard Phillips -- just to name a few. We would certainly be open to having Rep. Barr back on Meet the Press to discuss his candidacy. He has previously appeared on the program six times during his career.

—M.G.