In Journalism 4953 we discussed the amount of control debate moderators have. We agreed that a strong moderator has the power to guide a debate in the direction that he/she desires however, a weak moderator will often fall prey to the attacks of the candidates.
During the South Carolina Primary on Jan. 19 GOP candidate Newt Gingrich lashed out at CNN's moderator, John King. King began the debate by asking Gingrich to respond to his ex-wife's comment about the open relationship that she had with Gingrich. Gingrich responded to this by saying "I am frankly astounded that CNN would take trash like that and use it to open a presidential debate." He then proceeded to put down the moderator and the media as a whole. At this point, King revoked his question, apologized, and moved on to a different topic. The end result was that this debate was much less structure and much of the power was placed in the hands of the candidates rather than the moderator.
The Florida Primary debate on Jan. 26 was much different. In this debate the moderator was CNN's Wolf Blitzer. During the debate Blitzer asked Gingrich is he was “satisfied with level of transparency of Romney’s personal finances?” Gingrich again attempted to lash out calling the question “nonsense.” However, unlike King in South Carolina, Blitzer did not back down from his question explaining that it was significant because Gingrich himself had attacked Romney about his foreign bank accounts that week. Blitzer continued to pressure Gingrich saying, “If you make a serious accusation against Gov. Romney like that you need to explain that.” Eventually, Gingrich relinquished and answered the question.
By pressuring the candidates and standing his ground Blitzer was able to take control of the debate. He forced candidates to answer the questions and stopped them from wandering too far off topic and as a result, the Jan. 26 debate was much more interesting than the Jan. 19 debate.
During the South Carolina Primary on Jan. 19 GOP candidate Newt Gingrich lashed out at CNN's moderator, John King. King began the debate by asking Gingrich to respond to his ex-wife's comment about the open relationship that she had with Gingrich. Gingrich responded to this by saying "I am frankly astounded that CNN would take trash like that and use it to open a presidential debate." He then proceeded to put down the moderator and the media as a whole. At this point, King revoked his question, apologized, and moved on to a different topic. The end result was that this debate was much less structure and much of the power was placed in the hands of the candidates rather than the moderator.
The Florida Primary debate on Jan. 26 was much different. In this debate the moderator was CNN's Wolf Blitzer. During the debate Blitzer asked Gingrich is he was “satisfied with level of transparency of Romney’s personal finances?” Gingrich again attempted to lash out calling the question “nonsense.” However, unlike King in South Carolina, Blitzer did not back down from his question explaining that it was significant because Gingrich himself had attacked Romney about his foreign bank accounts that week. Blitzer continued to pressure Gingrich saying, “If you make a serious accusation against Gov. Romney like that you need to explain that.” Eventually, Gingrich relinquished and answered the question.
By pressuring the candidates and standing his ground Blitzer was able to take control of the debate. He forced candidates to answer the questions and stopped them from wandering too far off topic and as a result, the Jan. 26 debate was much more interesting than the Jan. 19 debate.
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