I was flipping through the channels last night and landed at the Fox News GOP debate. I lingered for a few minutes–long enough to see something new. In an apparent effort to not be out-gimmicked by the CNN/YouTube debate, Fox went away from the debate forum to some diner, where Carl Cameron asked people what they were feeling about what they had seen, and then converted these reactions into questions. As Howard Kurtz put it:
As for the debate, Fox’s innovation was not YouTube but ChowDown: Carl Cameron in a New Hampshire diner, letting a couple of residents sound off and asking the candidates to respond.
In my view, it was a lame innovation. I watch debates to see what the candidates think, not to learn what “people on the street” think. It’s bad enough that networks have incorporated those focus-group panels in their coverage. But at least they waited until after the debates to show us what the guinea pigs are thinking. Last night they interrupted the action for viewer feedback.
Networks, please limit debate format to Q&A with the candidates.