UK Elections and TV coverage
i caught a few tv spots on cspan...
what interests me is the way the candidates are presented to the public. since i'm used to the american debates, which are very scripted and uninformative, i find the tv coverage of the british candidates to be surprisingly candid.
i've seen part of an interview on bbc newsnight with blair, the host interrupting him any time he diverged from the question. sometimes the questions were asked repeatedly, the host beginning to get condescending to blair (all while sitting uncomfortably close to him).
then there is a program where a large crowd asks the candidates (gasp) whatever they want, whenever they want. they were quite hard on the two i saw (charles kennedy and blair) and sometimes made them squirm. one young man cited recent documents and called blair a liar to his face. here also, the host quickly interrupted whenever a question was not being properly addressed.
it is truly a foreign experience to see so much of the BS removed from pre-election press events. i'm not sure if what i saw is typical for the UK, but i wish the american press was this tough on major politicians before an election.
Last edited by trickyy; 05-02-2005 at 08:41 AM..
Reason: grammar
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