NEWS >POLITICS > OBAMA / MCCAIN DEBATE RESULTS IN: NOTHING

OBAMA / MCCAIN DEBATE RESULTS IN: NOTHING

October 7 2008

Nashville, TN – For the second time Barack Obama and John McCain squared off in a debate trying to show the American people who between them is the most qualified to be President. While jabs went back and forth between the two senators, the net result from viewers seems to be in: Nothing.

At times through the debate the two became, for the first time, outright hostile towards each other which seemed to have little or no impact on viewers and potential voters, but that hasn’t stopped new networks from milking it for all it’s worth.

“The back and forth seemed to just go back and forth. They didn’t really offer anything new as far as policy goes and most viewers I think have been left with the same impression that they had going in,” said Scrape TV political analyst Gabriel Kinsey. “They presented more or less the same face to the American people that they have already seen. The television networks and pundits though, they seem to have had a more successful night. No matter how bad the economy gets those groups are always going to be okay.”

Of course the 24 hour news networks are the ones benefitting the most from the debate coverage. Both CNN and Fox News plan coverage well into tomorrow with continuing pundit coverage and talk TV from stars like Larry King, Sean Hannity, and Bill O’Reilly.

“The cable networks have a lot of time to fill and a lot of advertisers to satisfy. It’s essential that they milk events as much as they possibly can so they can make up ratings from the slower periods,” said Scrape TV Media analyst Sarah Piper. “There was a time when news had real value and debates like these actually meant something to viewers. Today though, with candidate’s messages on the web giving people twenty-four access the debates themselves have a lot less relevance. News now isn’t so much about providing information or giving any real insight so much as it is about maxing out ratings potential. They repeat the same thing over and over again trying to pretend as though they are actually digging into something deeper. Every now and then TV news still comes up with a gem, but those are few and far between.”

With the election less than a month away and one more debate scheduled, the news networks are already prepping for more coverage, even if viewers have nothing to gain any longer.

“At this point in campaigns the bulk of fence sitters have made their decision and no diatribe from Bill O’Reilly or Keith Olberman is going to change that,” continued Piper. But the networks have time to fill. No matter how uninteresting and uneventful the actual debate might be, they are going to make it splashy and make the advertisers happy. At least being a pundit is recession proof.”

The next debate between the two candidates will take place October 15 in Hempstead, New York, where pundits predict very little will actually take place.

“Hopefully there will be some major disaster or Sarah Palin will say something stupid between now and then so the two have an opportunity to actually have a real debate. It’ll help the ratings too,” concluded Piper. “In these hard economic times you can always rely on people making something out of nothing to survive.”

Edward Bastil, Political Correspondent

NEWS >POLITICS > OBAMA / MCCAIN DEBATE RESULTS IN: NOTHING