cyborg
07/24/2007
CNN/YouTube Debate: Most Watched Question
Last night marked a watershed moment in American politics with the inaugural CNN/YouTube debate. Not unpredictably, the event had its champions and its critics.
For a good round-up of the critical reaction, check out this article on Wired.com. Most of the criticism, quite justifiably in my opinion, has been leveled at the final list of 39 questions (culled from more than 3,000 entries) that were picked by the event's organizers. Simply put, CNN/Youtube could have picked a much better way to represent the American people to the candidates and to the rest of the world.
This debate had the potential to have a massive impact on how candidates respond to questions, -- it could have made canned answers become candid ones. So why in the hell did they choose this question, which happened to be the most-viewed on the entire site? This kind of stuff belongs in The Onion, not in a nationally televised event that should help determine the future of a country enduring one of the biggest collective political crisis in its history. A little editorial discretion would have come in handy, don't you think?
For a comprehensive round-up of all the clips, check out the PoliticsTV YouTube channel.
