Change the Debate

With few exceptions, the media figures who moderated the presidential primary debates focused on campaign gaffes, political tactics, and personal issues and, as a result, critical issues were pushed aside. While the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq raged, the mortgage crisis gathered steam, and nearly 50 million Americans continued to go without health insurance, the debate moderators focused on frivolous and trivial matters, far removed from the issues the public wanted to hear about.

The Media Matters Action Network report Change the Debate documents the medias poor performance in their handling of the debates during the primaries.

If there is one thing that is clear from the deplorable performance by the moderators of the Republican and Democratic presidential primary debates, its that they failed the American people. This week marks the first debate of the general election, and the public deserves a conversation on how the potential leaders of our country will take on the biggest issues of our day, not questions on petty politics and horse-race-focused nonsense.

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[JeffersonTom2008]

It's media events like these that delivered Bush to America. The mainstream media (MSM) is broken. The corporations that own the MSM do no want serious debate about real issues. Certainly not when those issues would negatively affect their profits.

Think the for-profit health insurance industry wants a real discussion about healthcare reform? Would the pharmaceutical companies want an intelligent, fact-based debate about the reasons the government should not negotiate drug prices?

[Sharoney]

Pretty damning indictment of the shallowness of discourse encouraged by the mainstream media. Both Republicans and Democrats should be outraged by this.

This is not about picking the next winner of "American Idol." This is about choosing the next leader of the free world. If the so-called Fourth Estate can't take it seriously, how can they possibly expect American voters to do the same?? It boggles the mind.