A new poll by The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press focusing on the public’s perception of campaign press coverage to date finds, among other things, that 57 percent of those polled say they want more coverage of debates.
NBC, for one, appears to already be taking that “more about debates” stuff to heart. Like remember that pointed debate about Hillary Clinton’s cleavage? NBC’s Today Show used it this morning as the “news hook” to stage its own six-minute debate on “CLEAVAGE AT WORK: How low can you go in the office?” Take your pick for the most cringe-making moment of the segment: Meredith Vieira’s bad-even-for-morning-TV wordplay: “Workplace experts advise, dress for success as long as it’s not construed as dressing for sex;” Donny Deutsch, Cleavage Expert and host of CNBC’s “Big Idea,” coquettishly unbuttoning his own shirt mid-segment; career coach/author Karen Salmansohn’s announcement that “Cleavage is power. We have to use that cleavage power responsibly.”
Use cleavage power responsibly. But the power of having five million-plus viewers and four hours every weekday to inform them? Feel free to squander that.
Liz Cox Barrett is a writer at CJR.