By Katherine Guthrie
Dear John King,
Heading into another debate of yours tonight, I have a favor to ask: no more fluff, please? A number of journalists at The Guardian compiled and examined all questions asked of the contenders for the Republican presidential nomination and found that, overall, the debates have been “serious.” Their explanation of their findings can be found here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/16/gop-debates-questions-journalists/print.
Their classification of the debates as “serious” stems from their discovery that of all the questions asked in the 20 debates since May 5, 2011, only 12, or roughly 1%, have been “fluff” questions – and seven of those 12 questions came from you, according to their results. [Brett Baier, Wolf Blitzer, and George Stephanopoulos also made it on to their list]. So tonight, I ask for a little less “Leno or Conan?” and “Deep dish or thin crust?” and a little more questioning of the candidates’ educational policies. The Guardian learned that the total number of such fluff questions equals the number of questions on education asked by all of the moderators combined. Those 12 questions on education have been relegated to student debt and federal regulations’ effect on schools. So John King, tonight I ask you to set an example by asking each candidate not “How conservative are you?” but rather “How concerned are you by the state of our country’s primary education system?” and when and if they nod their heads, to ask them what they actually plan to do about it.
- Katherine Guthrie is a production assistant for Up w/ Chris Hayes.
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Most of my commenters voted last June that John King's debate question "Conan or Leno?" tagged him as a collaborator and a, well, to use a nicer word than they did, failure.
bgalrstate.blogspot.com/2011/06/great-unanswered-question-from-last.html
Bravo...nicely done!
Great piece of advice, unfortunately, I seriously doubt that your suggestions will be taken into consideration. Its symptomatic of the larger problems with our public discourse...The majority of the discussion (with the notable exception of Up! and a few other programs) tends toward fluff.
Now that it has come and gone, we know which path King followed--straight toward the "use one word to describe yourself" cheerleader question...
Thumbs down for John King! He allows Newty to intimidate him, and backs down every time.
Dear CNN,
Enough. Enough.
Jim Lehrer set the gold standard on debates. No audience participation. Candidates will be called out for not responding to questions.
John King must be allowed to be something more than a spectator. Romney basically told King: Your questions don't matter. Referees have no legitimate place in a contest of ideas. I get to run out of bounds whenever I want. King's limp response was "Fair enough".
Well, no. Let's not be pathetic. Moderators can turn off the mic of those who don't play by the rules.
For something to be called a debate, it must have rules, CNN needs to decide if what they are doing is a debate or free telemarketing for factions of the GOP.
The fluff isn't about John King, it's about CNN. Fluff is just their way of making journalism more palatable to viewers by, you know, removing the journalism part.
Personally I find King's fluff more tolerable than the whole game show/ESPN aesthetic CNN uses for this garbage tv.
Charles Dickens: "It's over, and can't be helped, and that's one consolation."
At least Saint Rick Sanctimonious--he's vested!!!-- seemed dodderingly goofier, slouching at the table, more like the Goober that we remember as Pennsylvanian congressional representative (ousted) instead of the nation's newest self-styled savior.
Go Obama 2012