The Graph and I
I tried to watch the vice presidential debate tonight but it wasn't easy. This was because I was forced to watch it on CNN. I happen to be an MSNBC junkie -- but the TV set was already tuned to CNN so that was pretty much that.
This was the first time I've watched a debate on CNN, and it turns out to have this graph running along the bottom of the screen, a graph that allegedly represents the moment-by-moment feelings of a group of supposedly independent voters in Columbus, Ohio, who sit, with some sort of electronic devices, and register their warmth or cool as the debate goes on.
Well, this is no way to watch a debate. It reminded me of this thing that's happened in New York City, which is that all restaurants with more than fourteen locations have to put on the menu the calorie count of each food item. This is an appalling development. It's hard enough to figure out what you want to order without someone explicitly telling you that you're going to drop dead if you eat it. But more important, I don't believe those calorie counts. Who knows how many calories there are in a grilled cheese sandwich? No one, that's who. But there it is, on the menu, in a grim black and white parenthetical, and it affects you, you can't help it, and as a result you end up not ordering the thing you wanted and instead ordering some stupid bowl of soup that barely gets you through till three in the afternoon.
Well this graph on CNN affected me, it affected me so much that I could barely focus on the debate, I was so busy watching the graph. I knew it was completely unreliable and irrelevant, and yet my heart sank and rose according to it. I sort of heard what the candidates were saying, but mostly I watched the orange (for women) and green (for men) lines rise and fall as each phrase was uttered. When Sarah Palin spoke and the lines went up, I felt irritable. When Joe Biden spoke and the lines went up, I felt happy. Don't get me started on Gwen Ifill.
Every so often Sarah Palin would say things like "darn right" and "bless their hearts" and "you betcha" and I noticed that the people in Columbus were unmoved by Palin's folksy expressions, at least according to the graph; this gave me faith in America. But then I reminded myself that the graph was probably as unreliable as the calorie count that caused me not to order what I really wanted to eat for lunch.
When the debate was over, we were all sad to realize that it had not been the exciting blood bath we were hoping for (I mean, let's admit it) but thrilled to hear that Biden was the winner. So I came home and celebrated: I had a grilled cheese sandwich (530 calories) (not really).
Read more reactions to the Biden-Palin Vice Presidential debate from HuffPost bloggers
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I take these focus groups with a grain of salt. They get paid to do this and I doubt that most were really independent voters.
In Australia the graph at the bottom of the screen is called the "Worm". Just before the televised debate between PM Howard and his competition Kevin Rudd in Nov 07 (who won btw), Howard said he wouldn't debate if the worm was used!! There was a back and forth with all the tv stations and then promises that it wouldn't be used and at the last second the worm popped up on the TV. It was hilarious and Howard was soooo pissed off. Rudd said repetedly before the debate that it didn't bother him at all - bring on the worm. Anyway, it did distract me quite a bit but I was very happy to see that the worm kept squiggling down when Palin got all cutesy.
Totally with you on this. Watched at a friends or would have changed the channel immediately. It was distracting and I found myself wondering whether they had these viewers hooked up to electrodes
I see the the feedback meter as a plus and I had no problrm watching the trend lines, listening to what was said and watching thier body langauge.S
You know who knows how many calories are in a grilled cheese sandwich? The guy who set the sandwich on fire and measured the energy output and then wrote it on the chart, that's who.
This is like complaining about dentists drilling all the time when you have a toothache. Who's he to tell you you've got cavities, it's YOUR mouth.
Every time I see/hear Palin holding forth, I think of Tina Fey's sendups of her. That kind of gets me through. The VP debate itself was almost like an SNL sketch of the VP debate. Life imitates art....
Lie meter would be a great idea, although probably politically incorrect, but the hell with that, anyway. Personally, I like the audience reaction graph, because it gives me a preview of what the independent audience will probably test like afterward. It is also interesting to know realtime, how the audience's reactions compare with my own. And lastly, I can get CNN in HiDef where I live, but not MSNBC, or I would watch that, instead.
One thing, though: although I love Keith and Rachel and the gang, watching the reactions on CNN afterwards gives me a wider scope of how a large cross-section of pundits, if not voters, thinks about the subject at hand.
Tell me CNN always has the best picture out of all the networks. Those vibrant colors! And now the graph and Anderson. sigh.
My family absolutely agrees with you. We love the MSN crew, but also like to be surprised once in a while. CNN had a top-notch groups of commentators and, yes, the impish Anderson.
Oh I so agree with Nora about this CNN banner. I rarely see this channel because of this distracting running commentary that runs endlessly creating unnecessary animated texture.
I turned to my local channel (abc 30) that tunes me on in HD.
Actually this CNN presentation makes aesthetic sense when I consider another kind of textural irritation-- the 'off to the races' incessant rhythm of Anderson Cooper's verbiage. Does he ever relax between words?
"lie meter" is a great idea. srsly, having some one doing fact checking in real time and running it on the lower third would be a MUCH better use of that screen real estate.
Wish they had a lie meter too!
Towards the end of Thursday night's Joe Biden/Sarah Palin debate, Joe Biden said this: "All you have to do is to go down Union Street with me in Wilmington and go to Katie's restaurant
It caught me off guard, as well as our food guru Patty Talorico.
She investigated a bit and realized Biden was referring to the long-closed Katie's Italian restaurant, which is actually two blocks away from Union Street.
The establishment is now a Wings to Go.
Talorico's blog post has been picked up by the John McCain campaign, along with The National Review, New York magazine and others.
For a guy running as an in-touch-w
I just called the owner of Wings to Go, Nate Johnson, who verified that Katie's closed in the late '80s.
"He was a little off," Johnson said of Biden.
I only watch PBS.
No kidding. I watched it on PBS.
I think its an example of some American's need for constant stimulation. I don't even see people sit on the curb for more then 5 minutes lost in thought without pulling out a cellphone pacifier.
Don't get me started on that annoying Microsoft™ Surface election kiosk they use on MSNBC.
Stopped on CNN too. But couldn't take it , so I turned it to MSNBC. You shoud have done the same.
I have to agree, the graph does more to influence viewers than it does to accurately measure debate performance.
If they want to use it, they should only show and discuss the results AFTER the debate.
People have a hard enough time making informed choices in this media climate...
Anyone foolish enough to still be an "undecided" in this time of our nation's history should just go back to sleep and not be encouraged by the media.
Lets stop calling these productions as debates. A debate would actually be useful in deciding how a candidate actually processes information, makes decisions, and expresses herself.
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