http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080417/tv_abc_s_debate.html
Ratings, criticism big for ABC presidential debate
Thursday April 17, 4:31 pm ET
By David Bauder, AP Television Writer
ABC's Gibson, Stephanopoulos sharply criticized on debate performance
NEW YORK (AP) -- ABC News drew both record ratings and a heap of
complaints about how Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos
moderated the Democratic presidential debate, criticism that
Stephanopoulos on Thursday called a sign of how much people care.
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By midafternoon Thursday, more than 15,600 comments were posted on ABC
News' Web site, the tone overwhelmingly negative. A prominent TV
critic, Tom Shales of The Wa****ngton Post, said Gibson and
Stephanopoulos "turned in shoddy, despicable performances."
There was some positive feedback, with columnist David Brooks of The
New York Times giving ABC News' performance an "A."
The prime-time debate from Philadelphia on Wednesday was seen by 10.7
million people, according to Nielsen Media Research. That's the most
of any debate this election cycle -- topping the 9.3 million who
watched the Democrats on ABC Jan. 5 -- and proving that the lull in
primaries before Tuesday's in Pennsylvania hasn't dulled interest in
the contest between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.
"The questions were tough and fair and appropriate and relevant,"
Stephanopoulos told The Associated Press. "We wanted to focus at first
on the issues that were not focused on during the last debates."
The criticism comes with the territory, he said. "It's one more sign
of how engaged people are over this election," he said.
Early in the debate, ABC's moderators asked for a pledge that the
nomination fight's loser would be the vice presidential candidate
(they wouldn't) and whether each candidate thought the other could
beat Republican John McCain (they did).
Besides those questions, the first three issues raised concerned
comments made by Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright;
comments that Obama made about the draw of guns and religion to some
rural Americans; and Clinton's false claim that she had been under
sniper fire in Bosnia while first lady.
Obama was asked about why he hasn't worn an American flag pin on his
lapel, and his relation****p with a former member of the Weather
Underground.
All of these issues were raised before Iraq and the economy came up.
Will Bunch, a Philadelphia Daily News writer, posted an open letter to
Gibson and Stephanopoulos on his blog. He wrote that he was so angry
that "it's hard to even type accurately because my hands are shaking."
He said the ABC newsmen spent too much time on trivial matters that
didn't concern most voters.
"By so badly botching arguably the most critical debate of such an
im****tant election, in a time of both war and economic misery, you
disgraced the American voters, and in fact even disgraced democracy
itself," Bunch wrote.
Shales also criticized the early line of questioning, and said ABC's
coverage appeared slanted against Obama. He mocked Gibson's closing
thank you to the candidates for a fascinating debate.
"He's entitled to his opinion, but the most fascinating aspect was
waiting to see how low he and Stephanopoulos would go, and then being
appalled at the answer," Shales wrote.
Greg Mitchell of the trade publication Editor and Publisher said it
was "perhaps the most embarrassing performance by the media in a major
presidential debate this year."
Stephanopoulos acknowledged that it was legitimate to wonder about the
order of the questions, and whether some of the more issue-oriented
subjects brought up during the debate's second half should have been
sprinkled in earlier.
But he said it was appropriate to address questions like Wright,
Bosnia and Obama's comments about rural Americans because they were
issues in the campaign and hadn't been talked about in debates before.
His question about a former Weather Underground official had received
barely little notice in the campaign.
The Times' Brooks, posting comments less than an hour after the debate
ended, predicted Democrats and particularly Obama sup****ters would
jump all over ABC.
"I understand the complaints, but I thought the questions were
excellent," he wrote. "The journalist's job is to make politicians
uncomfortable, to explore evasions, contradictions and
vulnerabilities. Almost every question tonight did that. The
candidates each looked foolish at times, but that's their own fault."
Similarly, the Web site hotair.com offered "kudos to ABC News for
taking on both candidates fearlessly."
The comments on ABC News' Web site were angry, sometimes profane and
occasionally funny. "Why not have Paris Hilton moderate next time?"
one poster wrote. One man repeated the word "bad" 48 times. A sampling
found opinion was running against the network about 8-to-1.
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