US network faces backlash after Democratic debate - Guardian

[rndmprsn]

if i haven't said it already FUCK ABC...i will not watch that poor excuse for a network in a long minute or two

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/17/uselections2008.usa

...American television viewers and media commentators lashed out at the network, decrying the format of the debate, which they complained amounted to a venue for the candidates to reiterate political attacks rather than delve into substantive policy disagreements.

The network was also criticised for a perceived slant against Illinois senator Barack Obama, particularly because moderator George Stephanopoulos worked in President Bill Clinton's White House as an adviser and aide.

By mid-morning today, readers had left more than 12,300 comments on the ABC News website, most of them attacking the programme...
(i wonder how many of those came from DU...a hefty % i bet)

...A spokesman for media monitoring organisation Media Matters said the network missed an opportunity to "offer the American people a frank discussion of the issues that we all face and how these candidates plan on tackling them.

"Instead, those that tuned in saw a veteran news team clearly out of touch and more interested, frankly, in gaffes and gotchas than health care, the war in Iraq, and our failing economy," said the spokesman, Karl Frisch.

"For the first 52 minutes of the two-hour, commercial-crammed show, Gibson and Stephanopoulos dwelled entirely on specious and gossipy trivia that already has been hashed and rehashed, in the hope of getting the candidates to claw at one another over disputes that are no longer news," Washington Post television critic Tom Shales wrote this morning.

[patrice]

1. I for one can absolutely assure you that if I ever hear/see Stephanopulous again

, radio or tv, I will either change the channel or turn it off.

[Voice for Peace]

2. If it was meant to be biased in Clinton's favor, they failed miserably.

The pledged delegate lead is already unsurmountable. It's up to the SD's to decide who is the most electable. Watching the debate last night it was clear that it's Obama. He's the candidate who has the most faith in the intelligence of the voters. I think this is a no brainer.

[woolldog]

3. This is an embarassment to the country.

[DuaneBidoux]

4. Not to mention what greed that they couldn't show it without commercials.

That is incredibly classless.

[Writer]

5. Why do we suddenly care about the issues...

when we've been avoiding them for several weeks on this and other Internet forums? Liberal blogs? Our national discourse?

[murielm99]

6. We care about issues because poor widdle Obama

was picked on by big bad Georgie and Charlie. There would not be nearly the outcry if Clinton had been on the receiving end. There would be denial and sneering, just like there was after the SNL skit.

Very few people here discuss issues any more. They simply trade insults. There is no question that I do it, too. No one is going to change their minds until this whole primary season plays out.

[Name removed]

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