Audience Questions

CNN, why even bother with audience questions if this is the way they’re handled. This is a very thin ethical tightrope you’re trying to walk.

‘Diamond or pearls’? CNN made her do it.

During last night’s Democratic presidential candidates debate, UNLV student Maria Luisa asked the final question of the evening. Luisa laughingly asked Clinton: “Do you prefer diamonds or pearls?” Marc Ambinder reports that Luisa actually wanted to ask a substantive question about the Yucca Mountain nuclear repository, but CNN urged her to go with “diamonds or [...]

This post includes a response from CNN that somewhat explains what happened.  Still, I’m not liking the whole “pre-approval” concept.  And, while we’re at it, let’s hammer CNN just a bit more.  Jack’s right, it’s getting ugly out there!

CNN’s Self-Importance is Beyond Debate

At last night’s Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas, CNN moderator Wolf Blitzer spoke for more time than five of the seven candidates, repeatedly getting in the way of substantive discussion by reducing issues to yes/no options. But it wasn’t until the audience got its chance to ask questions that the CNN team demonstrated how inflated in self-importance our [...]