Campaign Desk
Fight Club
The most contentious debate = the highest-rated debate. Coincidence?
By Megan Garber Wed 23 Jan 2008 06:26 PMSo it looks like Monday night’s CNN Democratic debate was the most-watched presidential primary debate in cable news history.
Wow. Perhaps that’s proof of citizens’ renewed interest in presidential campaigns. Or perhaps it’s proof of what Newsweek editor Jon Meacham said during his Daily Show appearance on the same evening: that press coverage of the campaign is “not ideologically driven, but conflict-driven” — because conflict-driven coverage is, ultimately, what audiences most want and respond to:
If you look at the covers of Newsweek and Time and you look at the newspapers, check out how many martial imagery, martial images are there - ‘the war over this,’ ‘the battle for that,’ ‘the fight to the …,’ ‘x versus y’ - because conflict is inherently interesting.
Seems to hold water—in this context, at least. According to the Times,
CNN’s moderator, Wolf Blitzer, was exceedingly lenient with the debate’s format on Monday, leading him to lose control of the conversation at some points. His hands-off approach was strategic, Mr. Blitzer said.
“I wanted them to interact and exchange views,” he said Monday night in a telephone interview. “I figured I would be successful if I spoke less and they spoke more.”
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Jack![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.cjr.org/nav-commenters.gif)
Thu 24 Jan 2008 03:15 PMIs it just as likely that th news media is practicing self fulfillment? The analysis is after the fact, but the assumptions of public preference are before the fact and are, therefore, along the line of the Pygmalion phenomenon. You find what you're looking for if you look hard enough and ignore the rest. If the public is fed a steady diet of embattlement while being starved of any meaningful depiction of substantive debate what is there to respond to?
Some widley attended and viewed sports events do emphasize conflict, such as boxing and football. In other, even more widely viewed events such as auto and horse racing, the results are primarily determined by the substantive skills of the contestants. It is not the conflict alone that drives the public's interest in the contest.
Granted the athe candidates give the news media little substantive content to report. On the other hand, the news media seems satisfied with the
content deficiency of the debates. Mr. Blitzer had the right intention, but in the absence of any distinguishing ideas between the candidates it may have been more interesting had he brought up that lack of content. For example, "What is it that distinguishes your position from that of your rival concerning a major issue? Please, be specific."