The Brewing and Swirling Controversy

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When I woke up this Thursday morning there was only one thought in my head. Palin vs. Biden! I jumped out of bed and threw on my Palin vs. Biden t-shirt and ran to the T.V. to see all the pre-debate coverage. Well, actually no, but should I have? I mean I’m supposed be this energized about tonight’s debate. All the ads and political commentary is saying it’s a major media event. I guess I’m just tuning in see if it will be anymore contentless than the Presidential nominee debate. But in the context of the debate I found another case of my main news source making money off articles.

“Controversy swirled over vice presidential debate moderator Gwen Ifill one day
before the face-off between Gov. Sarah Palin and Sen. Joe Biden, after new
scrutiny was drawn to her upcoming book featuring Barack Obama.”

CNN’s article Controversy brews up around VP debate moderator Ifill has set the tone for tonight’s debate. Controversy will be brewing and swirling pretty much sums up the problem I have with this article. At 9 p.m. much of America and many people around the world for that matter will be watching. The more people that watch, the more money CNN rakes in from advertisement. With that in mind, I read on as CNN inflated an argument.

Detailing the struggle for civil rights and the black political movements, The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama by Gwen Ifill comes into conflict because Ifill is tonight’s moderator. Having a biased moderator is of course not ideal, but unless it’s been a robot moderating debates, we haven’t ever had a truly unbiased moderator. When watching the debate it is our jobs to detect any slant to one candidate. This is nothing new and neither is Ifill’s book.

It didn’t just leak out this morning that she wrote a book. Ifill’s spokeswoman Anne Bell stated,

"Right now Gwen is in St. Louis. Her focus is on the debate. ... I don't think
it's anything she needs to worry about or address. It's in her bio, there have
been articles about it,"

More than likely CNN had this information on hand for a while. The timing is the key. The day of the debate a pseudo-scandal erupts and money pours into the media outlets.

CNN is using this article to add controversy to the debate to reel in more viewers. This illustrates what new media has done to our Presidential elections. No longer is about the issues. It can be grouped in with shows like Lost and Dancing with the Stars. The debate is really about publicity. Technology has aided us by making politics more accessible to many people. Many people mean a large potential for profits. It is CNN’s effort to generate profits that muddies good journalism with capitalism.


Works Cited:

Controversy brews up around VP debate moderator Ifill
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/01/gwen.ifill/index.html

Manovich, Lev. “What is New Media?”
The Language of New Media.
Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2001. 25