All Blog Posts from Public Eye

Cross-marketing and synergy are standard practices in MediaLand – like when Alec Baldwin wakes up on NBC’s “30 Rock” and just so happens to watch MSNBC morning programming, for example – but CNN has started taking some heat for what is being perceived as prizing promotion over news gathering.

Just in this space alone, this writer has noted the network’s promotional zeal, hyping up its July 23rd YouTube debate to the tune of 117 mentions of that night’s “groundbreaking” event.

Along with observing a few weeks ago that CNN was alone among the cable news networks in finding nooses to be a growing problem across America – in the same week that they were airing an investigative special called “The Noose: An American Nightmare.”

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Media criticism oftentimes boils down to a "chicken" or "egg" argument, but often at the fever pitch of those old "Less Filling, Tastes Great" ads.

That came to mind when I read the Washington Post’s Outlook section this weekend, and looked over Naomi Wolf’s piece about how young people don’t understand capital-D Democracy.

According to a recent study by the National Center for Education Statistics, only 47 percent of high school seniors have mastered a minimum level of U.S. history and civics, while only 14 percent performed at or above the "proficient" level. Middle schoolers in many states are no longer required to take classes in civics or government. Only 29 states require high school students to take a government or civics course, leaving millions of young Americans in the dark about why democracy matters.

A survey released by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute in September found that U.S. high school students missed almost half the questions on a civic literacy test. Only 45.9 percent of those surveyed knew that the sentence "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal" is in the Declaration of Independence. Yet these same students can probably name the winner of "American Idol" in a heartbeat.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. The “Dumbing Down of America.” Amusing Ourselves to Death. We’ve seen this movie before. It stinks, but it’s true – which, yes, twists that knife even deeper.

That sense only got worse when I saw CNN’s commercial for tomorrow night’s YouTube Republican Debate.

The motto – splashed across the TV screen – came from a Los Angeles Times headline from 4 months ago: “Where the citizen is the star!!!”

Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but when it comes to the process of electing the next leader of the free world, I’d rather the candidates be the focal points – or, in CNN’s language, “the star!” – of the event.

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It’s a YouTube world and we’re just living in it. This much is clear, as the Web site seems to find a new way to generate media buzz every day. Take a look at these recent samplings…

Andy Warhol Online:

We’ve had Obama Girl. We’ve had Britney-loving weeper Chris Crocker. (That's 'him' above.) Now we’ve got a woman singing with her hands? According to the Canadian Globe and Mail, an odd-even-given-the-company-it-keeps video showing a pair of hands ‘singing’/grooving to a Daft Punk song is the flavor of the week.

Ad Nauseam:

Google’s ad network and YouTube are teaming up to spread advertising around the web. According to the New York Times:

The Internet search giant is expected to introduce a service on Tuesday to allow Web sites in its ad network to embed relevant videos from some YouTube content creators. A Web site or blog specializing in hiking, for instance, might choose to embed hiking videos from YouTube.

Just another example that wherever you are online, commerce is going to find you … somewhere, somehow.

Off The Radar, On Computer Screens:

You can’t find Al Jazeera English on most American cable providers, but you now can find them online via YouTube. TechCrunch reports that Al Jazeera has signed a deal where they share advertising revenue with the website.

It’s getting to the point where you wonder if “boxers or briefs” was a better question than we gave it credit for, back in the day.

We’re 15 months away from the 2008 presidential election, and where do things stand? Aside from defending themselves from grenades lobbed from the other competitors – Mike Huckabee’s critical non-questioning of Mitt Romney was masterful on “Face the Nation” yesterday – the candidates have had to deal with the likes of Jon Stewart, Melissa Etheridge and Keith Olbermann asking occasionally probing questions.

But we’ve also had an odd summer of ObamaGirl and Hot for Hillary and part of me has no idea where all this is headed. Take just the past five days, for example.

First off, Suzanne Malveaux of CNN asked Hillary Clinton “Are You Black Enough?” Thursday at the National Association of Black Journalists conference in Las Vegas. Clinton handled it deftly, though, according to Eric Deggans’ account:

Facing a room packed with more than 1,000 journalists, Clinton chuckled a bit before launching into a generalized tribute to campaign diversity.

"I am thrilled to be running at a time when, on the stage, you can see an African-American man, a Hispanic man and a woman," she said, referring to Obama and fellow Democratic candidate Bill Richardson. "Democratic primary voters don't have to be against anyone. You can be for the person you believe will do the best job as our president."

I can see the point of Malveaux’s question, and understand that she wanted to package it in a hip way. She’s in TV and knows her soundbites backwards and forwards. But when Barack Obama starts complaining about the question – he said that reporters who ask it are looking for “an easy story to write and a lazy story to write” – it’s time to cut it out.

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Mitt Romney’s campaign has been doing its homework.

In a fascinating new approach to dealing with potential “Macaca Moments” – where a uncomplimentary snippet of a candidate is uploaded onto YouTube for millions of eyeballs to see – they have gotten ahead of a potential controversy -- and defanged it by posting the video on their own terms. According to USA Today:

Conflict "sells" at YouTube.

In just a bit over two days, a clip posted at the site by the campaign of Republican Mitt Romney has soared up the charts at the former Massachusetts governor's YouTube pages. It's gotten nearly 120,000 views so far.

Romney's folks call it "Gov. Romney interview with Jan Mickelson."

The Politico's Jonathan Martin has a grabbier title: "Mitt Unplugged."

Rather than a 10-second clip of Romney getting a little testy about questions concerning his Mormon faith and how he squares his political life with his religious views – a discussion that my Catholic brain is ill-equipped to judge, though “Under the Banner of Heaven” is now on my reading list – his campaign has posted the entire 20 minute clip of the interview, with all the context surrounding those occasional flashes of anger. By dealing with it head-on, the Romney folks have given themselves some measure of control over the clip.

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The majority of Democratic presidential candidates have been criticized – even by sympathetic soul Keith Olbermann – for their refusal to participate in a September debate to be broadcast on Fox News Channel.

It’s starting to look like boycotts may be a bipartisan trend.

The Washington Post reports today that the September GOP CNN/YouTube debate – the Democrats' one this week was all the rage, just ask CNN
– has received only two RSVPs from the Republican field: Ron Paul and John McCain.

Rudolph W. Giuliani and Mitt Romney, both with dozens of videos on their YouTube channels, have not signed up. Neither have the rest of the Republican candidates, including Rep. Tom Tancredo (Colo.), whose "Tancredo Takes" on his YouTube channel draw hundreds of views. Sources familiar with the Giuliani campaign said the former New York mayor is unlikely to participate. Kevin Madden, Romney's spokesman, said the former Massachusetts governor has seven debate invitations over a span of 11 days in September.

"We haven't committed to any of them yet," Madden said.

In an interview Wednesday with the New Hampshire Union Leader, Romney said he's not a fan of the CNN/YouTube format. Referring to the video of a snowman asking the Democratic candidates about global warming, Romney quipped, "I think the presidency ought to be held at a higher level than having to answer questions from a snowman.”

Whether it's Frosty or Jim Lehrer asking the questions, these nationally-televised debates are a singular chance to reach potential voters. Candidates who give them the cold shoulder lose the opportunity to make their own case and voluntarily hand opponents the chance to misportray them.

One final postmortem on the First-Of-Its-Kind and Groundbreaking CNN/YouTube debate from the other night.

It was called “freewheeling” and “lively." A “brave beginning." “Provocative," too. The New York Times thought it brought “freshness and spontaneity."

I’ve got another description for it: “Open-Book Test,” a point only raised – from as far as I can tell online – by Tim Russert at MSNBC.

The YouTube debate was unlike previous ones in ways catalogued exhaustively (and more enthusiastically) elsewhere, but its most overlooked trait was the fact that all the questions were available for public consumption as soon as they were uploaded. I could see them anytime leading up to the debate; you could see them. And so, critically, could the candidates and the candidates’ communications teams.

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So have you heard there’s going to be a Democratic debate tonight? And one with normal people like you and me posing questions via streaming video? You haven’t? Just turn on CNN. Chances are you’ll find out before the next commercial break.

A few weeks ago, CNN was accused of “milking a story” when they parlayed an on-air argument between Wolf Blitzer and Michael Moore into a into a prime-time “Larry King Live” debate with CNN’s resident medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Was this low-cal Lincoln-Douglas the most scintillating hour of TV in recent memory? No, it wasn’t, but would I rather see people discuss the merits of American health care and Michael Moore’s approach to filmmaking than reading more from Paris Hilton’s diary? To quote Kevin Pollak from “A Few Good Men,” ‘Every day of the week and twice on Sundays.’

The critic in question, Jon Friedman of MarketWatch, made the case that Wolf Blitzer was fishing for sensational soundbytes and trying to grab a few extra eyeballs, at the expense of a probing interview:

Lately, CNN has stretched the definition of news to a nearly incomprehensible level. What has genuine news value and what is a thinly veiled ratings grab? CNN may have plenty of company here, but I expect a lot from this network.

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So have you heard there’s going to be a Democratic debate tonight? And one with normal people like you and me posing questions via streaming video? You haven’t? Just turn on CNN. You’ll find out before the next commercial break.

A few weeks ago, CNN was accused of “milking a story” when they parlayed an on-air argument between Wolf Blitzer and Michael Moore into a into a prime-time “Larry King Live” debate with CNN’s resident medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Was this low-cal Lincoln-Douglas the most scintillating hour of TV in recent memory? No, it wasn’t, but would I rather see people discuss the merits of American health care and Michael Moore’s approach to filmmaking than reading more from Paris Hilton’s diary? To quote Kevin Pollack from “A Few Good Men,” ‘Every day of the week and twice on Sundays.’

The critic in question, Jon Friedman of MarketWatch, made the case that Wolf Blitzer was fishing for sensational soundbytes and trying to grab a few extra eyeballs, at the expense of a probing interview:

Lately, CNN has stretched the definition of news to a nearly incomprehensible level. What has genuine news value and what is a thinly veiled ratings grab? CNN may have plenty of company here, but I expect a lot from this network.

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File this under We Told You So (kinda), but a few weeks back we took a step back and thought just how "groundbreaking" the upcoming YouTube/CNN Presidential Debate could be. It was billed as the media equivalent of the transition from silent film to “talkies,” but we weren’t so sure:

Listen, I’ve said repeatedly here that YouTube is the bull in the political china shop. But let’s not oversell this upcoming debate, either. The fact remains that the videos from YouTube will still be vetted by CNN, and … this debate will be little different from a town hall debate held on a college campus – young voters, youth-oriented questions.

We continued by saying that while the submissions would be amusing, electic and off-the-wall, it wasn’t as if they’d actually end up surfacing in the debate. So today’s story on the New York Times political blog didn’t exactly strike us as Dog Bites Man:

“Bjorn,” an imposing figure in a two-horned Viking helmet and a thick, black beard – the stick-on kind – wonders how the candidates plan to deal with illegal immigration. Someone else has “a very, very serious question” – about aliens: Will the candidates agree to Congressional hearings on the existence of extraterrestrials? There’s the chatty Kermit the Frog hand puppet who sends in a message to the candidates from East Lansing, Mich. And, “Jackie and Dunlap,” who pose on their own political satire site as a beer-drinking, cigarette-smoking pair, are dying to know what role each of the Democrats would play if they could be on “Law and Order” just like Fred Thompson …We’re not sure whether debate organizers will be won over by the creative use of presidential action figures, either.

But it was at this point – upon reading the media coverage today – that we began thinking “Maybe the point isn’t to ‘Be Ready For Prime-Time.’” Maybe it’s enough just to be part of the discourse. Kermit or the Viking guy can’t (we hope) really expect to pose a question of Joe Biden, but the fact that they are on YouTube being seen and heard by the plugged-in online audience is a small victory unto itself.

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