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CNN’s Candy Crowley
(by Josh Lederman, The Denver Post) AP, WASHINGTON – For the first time in two decades, a woman has been tapped to moderate a presidential debate.
CNN’s Candy Crowley will moderate one of three October debates between President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney. … Jim Lehrer of PBS and Bob Schieffer of CBS News will moderate the other two debates.
Lehrer [questioned] the candidates during the first debate [last night] at the University of Denver, focusing on domestic topics.
Crowley’s Oct. 16 debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., will use a town hall format, allowing undecided voters selected by the Gallup Organization to directly question the candidates. Foreign and domestic policy questions will both be fair game.
Another female journalist, Martha Raddatz of ABC News, will moderate an Oct. 11 debate at Centre College in Danville, Ky., between Vice President Joe Biden and Republican Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.
The debate season will draw to a close on Oct. 22 with a foreign policy-focused debate moderated by Schieffer at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla., a crucial swing state.
All the debates are scheduled for 9 p.m. EST. …
When Crowley takes the stage in Hempstead, it will be the first time a woman has moderated a presidential debate since Carole Simpson of ABC News, who refereed a 1992 debate between President George H.W. Bush, Democrat Bill Clinton and Ross Perot.
Crowley’s selection came after three teenage girls from Montclair, N.J., organized an online petition drive to persuade the commission to pick a woman. More than 122,000 signatures were on the petition when the moderators were announced Monday.
“Women and men will never be truly equal in our country until they’re one and the same in positions of power and both visible in politics,” the girls wrote, noting that women will not be represented on either presidential ticket this year. …
Host of the Sunday political talk show “State of the Union,” Crowley is CNN’s chief political correspondent and has covered more than a dozen presidential candidates, according to her CNN bio.
Reprinted here for educational purposes only. By the Associated Press. May not be reproduced on other websites without permission from The Denver Post. Visit the website at DenverPost.com.
Questions
A debate moderator’s functions include keeping the debate process orderly and on topic, enforcing debate rules, asking questions and maintaining time limits for responses. (from ehow.com)
1. Name the moderators for each of the 4 debates.
2. What is significant about the moderators chosen for the 2012 presidential debates?
3. What is the format for the debate Ms. Crowley will be moderating?
4. How many Americans signed the petition requesting the Debate Commission to pick a woman moderator?
5. Fox News has higher ratings (more viewers) than CNN or MSNBC. As with CNN and MSNBC, people seem to either like Fox News Channel or hate it. Many Republicans say that the moderators chosen for the debates favor the Democratic candidate, either subtly or overtly, as the vast majority of major media members are Democrats themselves. Many liberals say the major media (ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, NY Times) is not biased, but Fox News is. Should a Fox News anchor also have been chosen to moderate one of the presidential debates? Explain your answer.
6. There are many members of the media. However, Jim Lehrer of PBS has been chosen as a moderator at least 11 times; Bob Shieffer three. Should the same news people always be chosen to moderate? Explain your answer.
7. NewWorldEncyclopedia defines ideology as a set of ideas or beliefs that determines a perspective with which to interpret social and political realities. Which is more important: to choose debate moderators with diverse ideologies or moderators from diverse social categories (sex, race, religion, age, disability, gender)? Explain your answer.
CHALLENGE QUESTIONS:
From paragraph #10: “Women and men will never be truly equal in our country until they’re one and the same in positions of power and both visible in politics,” the girls wrote, noting that women will not be represented on either presidential ticket this year.
Consider the following: Hilary Clinton ran for president in the 2008 Democratic primary and Sarah Palin was the Republican vice-presidential candidate in the 2008 election. Michelle Bachmann ran for president in the 2012 Republican primary. [per wikipedia: In 1984, Democratic presidential candidate Walter Mondale selected Geraldine Ferraro to be his running mate. In doing so she became the only Italian American to be a major-party national nominee in addition to being the first woman.]
Yahoo, eBay, Hewlitt Packard, Pepsi, Xerox and Kraft are some of the companies whose chief executives are women. The current Secretary of State is a woman; the previous administration’s Secretary of State was a woman. Several supreme court justices are women.
a) Do you think women and men have similar opportunities for success at this point in time in our country? Explain your answer. Be specific.
b) Should voters elect the candidate that is closest to their social category, whether it is age, race, religion, sex, gender identity, disability, etc.? Explain your answer.
c) Can only a person who belongs the same social category as you adequately represent you? Explain your answer.
NOTE: Tomorrow’s Daily News Article will be about last night’s first Presidential debate.
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Background
PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES:
The central focus of a presidential debate should be to provide voters with information they need to measure the suitability of the candidates for the White House.
The Commission on Presidential Debates announced four debates for the 2012 Presidential election. All debates will take place from 9:00 – 10:30 p.m. Eastern Time.
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
First Presidential Debate
Topic: Domestic policy. The debate will be divided into six time segments of approximately 15 minutes each on topics to be selected by the moderator and were “announced several weeks before the debate,” according to the Commission on Presidential Debates. The moderator will open each segment with a question, after which each candidate will have two minutes to respond. The moderator will use the balance of the time in the segment for a discussion of the topic.
Location: University of Denver in Denver, Colorado
Moderator: Jim Lehrer (PBS NewsHour Executive Editor)
Thursday, October 11, 2012
First (and only) vice presidential debate
(between Vice President Joe Biden Mitt Romney’s running mate Rep. Paul Ryan)
Topic: Foreign and domestic topics. The debate will be divided into nine time segments of approximately 10 minutes each. The moderator will ask an opening question, after which each candidate will have two minutes to respond. The moderator will use the balance of the time in the segment for a discussion of the question.
Location: Centre College, Danville, Kentucky
Moderator: Martha Raddatz (ABC News Sr. Foreign Affairs Correspondent)
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Second presidential debate
Topic: Town meeting format on foreign and domestic issues. In the town meeting format, citizens will ask questions of the candidates on foreign and domestic issues. Candidates each will have two minutes to respond, and an additional minute for the moderator to facilitate a discussion. The town meeting participants will be undecided voters selected by the Gallup Organization.
Location: Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York
Moderator: Candy Crowley (CNN Chief Political Correspondent and CNN’s State of the Union Anchor)
Monday, October 22, 2012
Third presidential debate
Topic: Foreign policy. The format for the debate will be identical to the first presidential debate: the debate will be divided into six time segments of approximately 15 minutes each on topics to be selected by the moderator and were “announced several weeks before the debate,” according to the Commission on Presidential Debates. The moderator will open each segment with a question, after which each candidate will have two minutes to respond. The moderator will use the balance of the time in the segment for a discussion of the topic.
Location: Lynn University, Boca Raton, Florida
Moderator: Bob Schieffer (CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent and Face the Nation Moderator)
Resources
Visit StudentNewsDaily’s “2012 Election” page at: studentnewsdaily.com/become-an-educated-voter
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