Debating the Moderator’s Role
By Ken Krayeske
What is the role of the moderator in a debate? Is it just to ask questions, queue the rebuttals, and stop the candidates from speaking beyond the time limits? Or do moderators have a deeper responsibility to the democratic process?
Since the Commission on Presidential Debates draws its moderators from the ranks of American journalists, we must question whether or not this profession is allowing itself to be manipulated for partisan political gains. > More of this article
The Way We Ask
By Chip Scanlan
With everyone else busy analyzing and grading the answers Dick Cheney and John Edwards gave in Thursday night’s one-and-only vice-presidential debate, let’s focus on a topic of greater value to journalists who take a professional interest in these high-profile job interviews: So how were the questions?
In one respect, crafting a good question may not matter a lot when interview subjects have a message to get across, no matter what they’re asked. For politicians, spokespeople, and others armed with talking points, it may be a case of damn the questions, full spin ahead! > More of this article
Debate Analysis: Will There Be a Different Ring to Round 3?
By Scott Libin
By now we know a lot about what to expect. The third debate’s “town hall” format will cast lecterns and round tables to the wind, but isn’t likely to result in anything too wild, especially under the skilled supervision of Charles Gibson, who, like Jim Lehrer and Gwen Ifill before him, puts the “moderate” in “moderator.”
It will be worth watching not only how the men at the top of the ticket alter their approaches, if at all, from the first debate. And, in the instant analysis that follows, it will be interesting to see if the TV networks try anything new this time around. Here are a few observations about their offerings of the fleeting moments that followed this week’s vice-presidential debate. > More of this article
Riffing for Originality
By Roy Peter Clark
The day after the vice-presidential debate of 2004, I read a clever phrase that contrasted the appearance and styles of the two candidates. Attributed to radio host Don Imus, it described the differences between “Dr. Doom and The Breck Girl.” Of course, the tough and dour Dick Cheney was Dr. Doom. And, because of his handsome hair, John Edwards was likened to a pretty girl in a shampoo ad.
By the end of the day, a number of commentators had riffed on this phrase. Riff is a metaphor from jazz to describe a form of improvisation in which one musician borrows and builds on the musical phrase of another. The original Imus phrase morphed into “Shrek vs. Breck,” that is, the ogre vs. the hair model. > More of this article
