CNN: American Public Can’t Be Trusted To Vote On Debate Questions

[babylonsister]

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/11/28/cnn-debate-youtube/

CNN: American Public Can’t Be Trusted To Vote On Debate Questions

The CNN/YouTube Republican presidential debate tonight will allow people nationwide to upload a 30-second video to YouTube and ask questions directly to the candidates. After a similar Democratic debate in July, members of the media hailed the format as “historic.”

Yet CNN staff still selected which YouTube questions were presented to the candidates — as they will tonight — often resulting in “bland, softball” questions being posed. Several technology experts have called on debate organizers to go a step further and involve the public “in deciding which video questions were worth airing.”

But in an interview with Wired, CNN senior vice president David Bohrman defended CNN’s methods, arguing that the public can’t be trusted to choose intelligent questions:

For all the talk about online voter empowerment, the web is still too immature a medium to set an agenda for a national debate, says CNN senior vice president David Bohrman.

“If you would have taken the most-viewed questions last time, the top question would have been whether Arnold Schwarzenegger was a cyborg sent to save the planet Earth,” says Bohrman, the debate’s executive producer. “The second-most-viewed video question was: Will you a convene a national meeting on UFOs?”

Are the public’s questions really all that different from the ones chosen by journalists? After all, at the Oct. 31 Democratic debate, moderator Tim Russert also asked a “serious question” to Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) about whether he ever saw a UFO . Watch it at link~

And of course, at its recent Democratic debate, CNN prevented UNLV student Maria Luisa from asking a serious question about Yucca Mountain, telling her to instead ask Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), “Do you prefer diamonds or pearls?”

In August, The New York Times surveyed seven people with “experience in both new media and old” to describe what a “a real new-media debate” would look like. Read the piece here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/17/opinion/17newmediadebate.html

[debbierlus]

1. Mine was the most requested by hundreds of votes...IMPEACHMENT

And, CNN's youtube channel sent me an e-mail stating 'Good Job'....

So, why wasn't it used?

This whole thing is such a joke.

[Cha]

6. As is cnn's MO and

SOP.

[treestar]

2. It would be the question most often asked, not the "most viewed"

Naturally, the lunatic's ones are "most viewed."

People email to others in essence saying "Get a load of this guy." The friend goes and looks at it for the laugh.

CNN thinks we are so stupid. Well, they want to think that, and believe they can control us.

[JHB]

3. That's why you don't use "Most Viewed" as a selection tool.

Things like Arnie and UFOs may get the most viewings, but that doesn't mean they're what people want asked. More of a "check out this freaky question" kind of thing.

Why am I not surprised that a CNN SVP doesn't understand that (or at least pretends not to with a straight face)?

[fishnfla]

4. I just noticed you cant spell Clinton without c-n-n

[babylonsister]

7. Ha! Someone should use that in a campaign ad! nt

[Bitwit1234]

5. WHAT!!! The American Public can't be trusted to vote on questions

who in the hell do they think are going to vote in the general election. Or do they think WE can't be trusted to elect their republican candidate so they have to vote for us...Well they might have in the last two elections but they are going to have a damn hard time pulling it in 2008.

[underpants]

8. I think what happened here, in part, was the RNC leaned on them NOT to show their base

Having scanned the RW blogosphere over the years I can only imagine the freaks and bizarros that submitted questions. Yes we have them too but the RW'ers that would be "advanced" technologically to enter questions on youtube would make most people shriek and repulse.

[Quantess]

9. CNN also thinks America likes Glenn Beck.

They suck. Sorry. CNN doesn't deserve an eloquent dismissal. They just suck, and they have low credibility, too. :thumbsdown:

[cascadiance]

10. And this is a clear example why the MSM can't be trusted to represent the public's views properly!

... even though they are trying to make like they are "creatively doing so"...