Media critics: CNN's YouTube debate didn't suck but still mainly a stunt David Edwards and Muriel Kane

Published: Tuesday July 24, 2007 Print This Email This Joe Scarborough reported Tuesday on the CNN YouTube debate, where Democratic candidates answered questions posed by ordinary citizens in the form of short videos. "I was expecting the YouTube debate last night to suck," Scarborough started off. "I was actually -- I was impressed." "The questions were good," replied NBC News political director Chuck Todd. "It was a good candidate forum. The downside was that the moderator missed opportunities to create a debate. ... It was a glorified, high-tech town hall. ... It was engaging, the program kept moving ... but it still wasn't a debate." Later in the show, Scarborough told Tom Shales of the Washington Post, that he felt the debate "was really good viewing," to which Shales responded, "I didn't love it. ... It seemed like kind of more of a stunt." Shales felt that reporters would have asked pretty much the same questions, but without the silly aspects. "The news isn't supposed to be that entertaining," he said. Shales also complained that the videos could not be seen clearly because they were not shown directly but only through shots of the screen on the debate platform, with the camera frequently cutting away for candidate reactions. Scarborough was particularly critical of the candidates' own videos that were part of the event, saying, "Where mainstream media outlets try to bring in new technology ... sometimes they overreach and it can be embarrassing. ... You may have had candidates trying to be a bit too hip for their own good." However, Scarborough and Shales agreed that many of the limitations of the debate were part of the more general problem with television, which reduces everything to soundbites. "In the end, was it CNN using a gimmick, and in the now-immortal words of Dan Rather, did they dumb it down and tart it up for younger viewers?" asked Scarborough. "It's really too early to be doing debates in the first place," responded Shales. The following video is from MSNBC's Morning Joe broadcast on July 24.





