ABC Debate: High Ratings, Critics Give Broadcast Poor Reviews

"ABC World News with Charles Gibson" featured a segment from correspondent David Wright on the "debate" over last night's debate. The network portrayed the controversy as a debate among commenters, rather than an onslaught of negative reporting from major news outlets. Watch the video to judge for yourself and then scroll down for more about how the debate was received.

Media critics may be panning Wednesday night's Democratic debate on ABC, but the ratings today show that millions of people outside the nation's newsrooms have an opinion of how Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos performed last night.

ABC sent out a release proclaiming the debate to be "easily the most-watched of the 2008 presidential cycle" with 10.7 million viewers.

For the 8-10 p.m. time period, this marks ABC's best Total Viewing audience since 11/28/07, its largest Adult 18-49 rating since 2/27/08, and its best Adult 25-54 rating since 1/9/08.

The first hour of Wednesday's debate ranked first in its time period among Total Viewers, Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54. Up against Fox's "American Idol" and an original episode of CBS' "Criminal Minds" at 9 p.m., the debate retained 96% of it Total Viewing audience, retained 100% of its Adults 25-54 audience, and grew 4% among Adults 18-49 from the first hour to the second hour.

Still, the high ratings don't appear to be helping the network's reputation among the critics. HuffPost has received a huge response from bloggers about the debate. The majority are negative.

USA Today gathered reports from other outlets slamming ABC for its performance last night:

The Washington Post's TV critic says Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos "turned in shoddy, despicable performances."

"For the first 52 minutes of the two-hour, commercial-crammed show, Gibson and Stephanopoulos dwelled entirely on specious and gossipy trivia that already has been hashed and rehashed, in the hope of getting the candidates to claw at one another over disputes that are no longer news. Some were barely news to begin with," Tom Shales writes.

Time's Joe Klein says he has "slightly--well, a microscopic smidgeon--more sympathy for the gotcha-moderators from ABC than Tom Shales does." He blames the trivial nature of the questions on the trivial nature of the campaign.

Guardian America's deadlineUSA blog issues its verdict with the headline: "Worst. Debate. Ever."

USA Today leaves out David Brooks' lonely article filled with praise for the debate. For the different perspective, read Brooks' article

Comments

[ApolloniaCreed]

Why isn't this article still front page??/


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/20/debate-analysis-abc-asked_n_97599.html

[Obama4Life]

Hillary Clinton Must Explain The Praising of a Group of KKK Supporters:
http://digg.com/politics/Senator_Hillary_Clinton_Must_Explain_The_Praising_of_KKK_Grp

Goto the link to check out the story guys, I need more diggs to get this on the front page so I need you all to go there and digg the story. Hillary Clinton is such a hypocrite bashing obama for just knowing Rev. Wright and Ayers, it's about time she does some explaining for the company she keeps herself.

[aquaglass]

Barack crashed and burned in the debate.
I wish everybody would just accept that and move on.
Your excuses and his excuses for the poor perfomance dosen't cut it with most, because they are just that,... excuses.
He's better with huge crowds and teleprompters.

[redraymonds]

abc is going down, this is modern day communism

[ssmit98]

Fellow Obama supporters, this is for you:)

Breaking news! Hillary Clinton caught lying AGAIN!

http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=62012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exsmFDYyK4U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQZl0ao6vbs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyhIBXNfqMA

[csunbean]

Obama supporters: OBAMA's Record of voting PRESENT .. not taking a stand on bills with a Yeah or a NAY can instill confidence. CHANGE requires taking a stand and Obama has . in essence not really voted more than any other Senator in History.

More importantly: Obama wrote the GLOBAL POVERTY ACT this would commit 845 BILLION dollars of the US's money and all of it would go to some U.N. Millenium that would of course probably do what is often done as in the OIL For Food program: They stold the money . Obama's bill would require the President to give up this money in according the the U.N. Millenium rules. We would be committed to giving up this money that could be used for creating jobs, or giving our citizens health care for 8 years people regardless of any increased economic problems, wars, ect in our own nation.

Is Obama is trying to legislate his churches Nonnegotiable commitment to Africa with our taxes? Information towards the middle and end of the following youtube on the program.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J30Poz_4Dm4
WHITE AND BLACK MEN and all other people please pay extra ... lots extra if you vote for Obama so this money is not taken from the working poor in our nation... We need to make our own country's foundation strong.
GOOGLE GLOBAL POVERTY ACT Obama wrote this bill
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J30Poz_4Dm4

[harriscrl3]

Worse debate Ever I still can't get over: Does Rev Wright Love America more than You. If that is not the DUMBEST question ever asked. How do you answer a question like this. Can he crawl into Rev's Wrights mind and know. If you want to ask about Rev Wright ask it in context with the race speech that he gave.

One of these people could be the next President of the US there is a war in Iraq there is food rioting in Haiti and parts of Asia. A pope is visiting the country and you are going to ask about flagpins WTH there isnt enough challenges going on to ask a Possible World Leader a relevant question about what's happening in our world in the US in PA.

It is NOT the Job of the Newsmedia to do the JOb of the GOP. Let them do their own swiftboating. When the media starts engaging in swiftboating a candidate we are heading into dangerous territory. Thats what the debate was a SWIFTBOATING.

What an utter embrassment the world must look at us like we are a joke. Thank goodness Obama showed annoyance at the questions he at least knows how RIDICULOUS they were.

Carol

[KDH]

Obama supporters can't handle the truth. They attack ABC because they have the journalistic integrity to actually vet Obama. Now that it's becoming clear, that Obama is not everything he seemed, Obama supporters who are in denial, have started attacking the messenger. The more they attack ABC, the more they expose the fact that Obama is damaged goods who could cost the Democrats the presidency in November. As for Obama getting hammered by Hillary....... Ahhhhhh.... poor little baby 'bama. And poor little baby 'bama supporters. Go cry to mama

[CTmom13]

send an email to Bob Schieffer"s and thank him - FINALLY a real HONEST journalist

email: [e-mail]


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-4elxJouBY&eurl=http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/4/20/14840/3341/838/499528

These distractions need to stop

[LeftLeaner]

As much as I'm not one for gotcha politics, it was refreshing for OBAMA for "ONCE" being the recipient of this sort of exercise.

Clinton has been attacked for 15+ months, just because she's a woman.

Now, we see how Mr. Obama is handling the pressure - not very well in my opinion.

By the way, the so-called CRITICS, who are very left-leaning liberals, are alligned to Obama, so it's more personal objections than objective ones.

[Haut]

REGARDING FADUTA'S REMARKS:

No one asked Hillary about her economics, FADUTA. And, they really should have. How about "rate freeze," huh? Does that ring a bell with you? What do you have to say about that? Would you say that she didn't learn a great deal about economics at Wellesley, an "all girl" college? I'm sure you would. NOT! Still claiming to be a Republican, are you?

[bigchris]

I saw one poster's suggestion about a blackout of ABC television. That's good but we can go a step further. Compile a list of advertisers and threaten to boycott their products unless they take them off ABC programming. That's how you scare these fuckers.

[osturk]

True debates in this country are dead so "give me a break"

[LollieDotCom]

What ABC did was either unimaginably inept or they did this for a better shot at achieving their own political agenda's. If this is ineptitude, then Charlie and George are as guilty as anyone that they're raking over and they need to sit out the rest of the election.

BUT..... IF THIS WAS A CONSPIRACY THEN IT'S THE BIGGEST STORY IN THIS CAMPAIGN AND ANY NEWS AGENCY THAT ISN'T TALKING ABOUT IT HAS BEEN BOUGHT AND CANNOT BE TRUSTED.

Chris Matthews announced he was running for the senate a few days ago and suddenly the guy who's against Clinton is encouraging the yahoo vote and sounding like he's been bought.

I'm 55 and don't have health insurance. I've got a grandson who is 15. Do the math Chris. How much do --I-- care about flag pins? No. I don't. Now that you've announced your desire to be a senator and your hardball has gone, at this late hour, just the week before the Pennsylvania primary - soft - it's time you consider your own conflict of interests.

A man lacking integrity in Chris's position, and promised a senate seat for keeping politics as they'v been far too long.... . Who could shift more swing votes than him by Tues.? His Christmasy joy is our nightmare. We can't trust most of the members of the fourth estate.

BOYCOTT ANY NEWS SHOW THAT DOESN'T STAY ON POINT. NOT JUST ABC, ANY OF THEM THAT ONLY LISTEN TO DOLLARS AND/OR RATINGS AT THIS

[independentrepublicrat]

You deal with George and Charlie by blackout: Enough with the phone calls and web comments at ABC. DO NOT WATCH "ABC WORLD NEWS" OR "THIS WEEK"! Period. Not everyone has the big brother annoyance of being a Nielsen family (and you should consider yourselves thankful) but don't worry about not having that annoying azz spybox in your home; just don't watch them at all. Don't have them on your TIVOs or DVRs because these services are also monitoring viewer activity. Don't listen to anyone who tells you it doesn't matter unless you are a Nielsen household because cable companies also track customer activity. We should all just erase George and Charlie and not just for a day but at least through the election. This is how to change the wayward path of media heading towards FauxNews like behavior.

Katie Couric should have been #1 during this entire election season because she hasn't allowed biased political reporting and if a reporter attempted to take a live swipe she reigned his comment in with the opposing argument. That is how it should get done, no spin just facts. You express disapproval with ABC by making Couric #2 but CBS deserves the first place spot on evening news and Sunday morning because they remain the last holdout during this political season as the only fair and balanced network for political reporting.

[littlepuffycloud]

Katie Couric is a joke. I quit watching her when Elizabeth Smart was found and returned home. All Katie wanted to know is whether the little girl had been sexually abused. It made me sick and I realized she is no different than any other of the parasites that call themselves 'journalists'. She was just a little blonder and cuter than Geraldo Rivera. Keith Olbermann is the only journalist that doesn't seem like a bought and paid for slob.

[ann1]

My thoughts exactly!

[kennedy]

Obama has already slapped his grandmother in the face calling her a racist. Yet he uses her in his PA ads to try to con the whites.

Obama has already sold his grandmother down the river to try in a vain attempt to steal the WH. Who in his family will Obama sell out next???

[HaroldBeu]

It is interesting that people seem so content and confortable attacking a black preacher who makes angry comments about our government, but when Senator Obama talks about his white grandmother making racist remarks, that is a problem. I venture to say that if his grandmother were black and made some remarks like Rev. Wright and the Senator talked about them, there would be no problem.

He was only trying to make the point that he loved both Wright and his grandmother and that he was not going to disown them even though they both said stupid things.

[Sabreen60]

It is interesting isn't it? I wonder why?

[champislove]

Everyone should have seen that coming. George use to work for Clinton remember?
A.B.C. Now stands form "All of us Back Clinton"

[darthmaul]

This is great, although I would modify it to "Always Back Clinton." Keep up the good work!

[WaynesWhirled]

Didn't you guys get the memo? Obama has discovered that whining about his poor debate performance and trying to take a page from Huff Post by blaming the media for his failure is actually boomeranging on him. That's why Obama is now saying that he didn't complain about the moderators at ABC (even though he did just that) and you'll notice Huff Post pulled this thread off the main page as soon as they got word that it was causing blowback!

One poll released today showed Hillary moving up to a 9 point lead in Penn. and another poll put Hillary at a 26 point advantage over Obama in Pennsylvania!

Obama found out quick that it's not smart for him to bite the media hand - after all they have been feeding him a free ride (but that's about to change, no one likes an ungrateful guest)

[DaCoach]

The mere fact that the ratings were large says nothing about the how the audience received the debate. OTOH, all candidates should expect that whining does nothing for their perception by those who are undecided.

[kylie]

Credit Obama for the big ratings and not the loser "moderators" or the Republican network-it rivals FOX!

I just want to know how many thought it was a lopsided anti-Obama fiasco! An embarrassment! A set-up, a Hillaryfest!

How did Clinton have all the facts about Ayers unless she carries that around with her 24/7,or she was rehearsed in advance on the "topics".

ABC should enjoy their ratings while they can, no one could stomach another one of their political debacles!

[cincigal]

Egobama,the whiney little black boy has refused to "debate any more".My question is,why didnt he just answer the questions,as Senator Clinton did?He is the one who made the big stink by refusing to answer.It dosent matter what the questions are.He made a complete fool of himself and then whined and played the victim and blamed the network and the moderators.Can you see him in the General election campaign?No one is going to kiss up to him there.He came to the debate expecting another love fest and it didnt happen.The only thing he had to do was simply answer the questions.He flat out lied about his handwriting on the handgun bill and just hedged on the other questions.ABC,George and Charlie did a bang up job.Obama was just caught off gaurd.Not very presidential.No one is going to stop watching ABC to please the poor widdle black boy and his addled brained cult followers.

[Sabreen60]

You obviously wrote the book on what a fool looks like!! And I think you are in the wrong place. You are the type of person who makes the rest of the world look at us in disgust. Take your racism to one of those Neo-Nazi blogs.

[Karenina44]

am soooo sick of this gotcha TMZ crap. This is newsworthy. Welcome to the dumbing down of America. How about we "black out" them all between April 23rd - May 5th? Can we campaign junkies handle it? Every single network is getting these idiotic shots in, because we the masses are feeding on it. Say NO to NEWS between PA - NC/IN!!!

[elroy62]

ABC News online is busily deleting emails to their site, apparently because they are inappropriately harsh upon Georgie and Charlie.. There were over 20,000 posts this morning at 10:00, now there are only 19,900. That's so typical and disgusting. I'm sure they are feverishly tying to keep the number down. it should be well over 20,000 by now

[23x]

Boy howdy.. What a joke that debate was, I'm thoroughly disgusted by the caliber of questions that were raised to a very intelligent Barack Obama. My intelligence was insulted as well. With such an important presidency facing our country, I would have thought ABC could have sensed what the REAL issues were rather than what would increase their ratings for the time being. It was a waste of my time and the candidates time that could have been utilized to really find out how these candidates are going to approach the many many REAL problems with our country at the moment. I could freakin care less about whether Barack Obama wears a flag pin (which was probably made in CHINA anyways) in fact, I respect the fact that he hasn't given in to simple minded folk that seem to think that this is in some way a form of patriotism,, GET REAL!!! GET REAL ABC... They owe the American people a do over, They owe the candidates a do over, sometimes it's hard to be proud to be an American when you see how the Media is controlled by money and how money determines who becomes president, everything is so corrupt, i am worried for this country. If Obama doesn't win, I'm moving to Belize.

[evahartselftlanguages]

TO: ABC's Philadelphia, Pa Debate on TV for 2008 Presidential Election April 18, 2008


Although I too wanted them to get on with issues,they did bring up topics that were good. Whenever men bring up good issues such as Senator Barack Obama's associations as Mr. Stephanoloupos and Mr. Gibsonshowing did of his lack of good judgment , people say its alright. It's not alright to throw off this matter of questionable associations that Sen. Obama chose. Why would a man do this? So if you choose Heaven's path you choose others like you going there too. You don't choose evil men as Mr. Ayers since he was a member of the Weatherman underground 40 yrs ago. Sure, we can't judge him forever since even God doesn't do that, but why would you want his relationship? Birds of a Feather Flock Together isn't it?

Economically, money never was spent on poor,job seekers for remember budget cuts Care not Cash in Sfc. The truth will not be unless money matters are told honestly.


This hermit does not pay for what he gets because he enjoys all the comforts of civilization that he owes to the efforts of others, but contributes nothing himself. He takes no interest in the poor,the suffering, the struggling. Therefore I neither approve of him nor respect him. English Grammar and Composition by John E. Warriner,'58 also reader for College Entrance Examinaton Board.

Eva Hart A Christian I was in Army 62-70 670 Eddy St. Sfc 94109

[dolphin65]

TO: evahartselftlanguages
In terms of Obama's so called association with Mr. Ayers is flimsy at best. Why not talk about all the shady associations that Clintons have compiled over the years? And what about the fact that Bill pardoned two of the 60's radicals? What type of judement or association do the Clintons have? Do you have a selective hearing?

In terms of money spent on poor..I'm not sure what your getting at. However, it is the Clintons who over the past few years accumulated wealth of over $100M; and some of these wealth came from sources that were very questionable. Why not include that in your assessment?

[evahartselftlanguages]

TO: Dolphin 65 April 18, 2008 2008 ABC Philadelphia, Pa Debate for Presidential Candidates

Why don't you lift your head above the water Dolphin65? Just a few more things though. The Clintons don't associate with someone of this questionable character as a weatherman underground member. This is not about Senator Hillary Clinton nor Ex-President Bill Clinton I was not talking about them and they would not associate with such a man of shady bad character of the past. Your not saying they would do this are you? What proof do you have. Here we have proof. Your comment about selective hearing was unfairly selective.

In regards to the poor what I meant was that money has never been spent on poor because and I don't know why you have not brought this up because of budget cuts for years. Obviously there isn't much left now. Just think Senator Barack Obama could use that 30 million to compassionately help. Why did you not mention this or Welfare needs more money.

Eva Hart A Christian

[evahartselftlanguages]

TO: Dolphin65 April 18, 2008 ABC TV's 2008 Philadelphia,Pa Debate


I was talking about Mr Ayers,Weatherman underground member 40 yrs ago, and Senator Barack Obama and the good of this matter of association being brought up by ABC Hosts. President Bill Clinton showed mercy and pardoned the two weatherman underground as Jesus pardoned sinners. Just because you don't mention the whole shebang which can be hard to do this means nothing. This does not mean Senator Obama is like Mr. Ayers. But why would he associate with a man of this baggeg though?

Eva Hart A Christian

[bobo209]

The hosts on last night's ABC Democratic debate were shameful: don't they realise America is sick of their junk food?