{"id":13365,"date":"2014-11-27T10:17:12","date_gmt":"2014-11-27T15:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.frankwbaker.com\/mlc\/?page_id=13365"},"modified":"2023-12-07T10:08:59","modified_gmt":"2023-12-07T15:08:59","slug":"what-you-see-political-debates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.frankwbaker.com\/mlc\/what-you-see-political-debates\/","title":{"rendered":"What You See: Political Debates"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thursday January 10, 2008 (9 days before the SC Republican Primary Election)<\/p>\n

A Look Inside a Contemporary Televised Debate: What you don\u2019t see<\/p>\n

Dateline: Myrtle Beach SC
\nHere I am once again at the site of one of the nation\u2019s presidential debates: this time the location is Myrtle Beach
\nConvention Center in South Carolina. The FOX News Channel, along with the SC Republican Party, sponsored this live
\ndebate featuring the republican candidates for president. All of the candidates are here following the Iowa caucus and
\nNew Hampshire primaries. Those races left no clear leader in the republican race for president, so all are hoping to do
\nwell here. The media are also here in full force because this may be the last hurrah for some of the candidates who
\nmust do well in SC\u2019s GOP primary in order to move on.<\/p>\n

Arriving mid-afternoon, I find law enforcement everywhere, controlling access into and around the convention center.
\nHaving pre-applied for a press credential and now considered to be a member of the media, I was provided parking very
\nclose to the convention center. Hoving overhead was a blimp promoting Ron Paul\u2019s candidacy and a plane pulling a banner
\nwhich read simply Ed\u201908..a reference to a national initiative to put public education in the forefront of the political agenda.
\nEn route to the parking lot, I passed more than a dozen local television stations\u2019 satellite and microwave trucks.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

These vehicles are manned by engineering and technical experts (as well as reporters and photographers) who job
\nit is to deliver their advance stories from Myrtle Beach to wherever their television station is located. (Microwave is
\nused for short distances; satellite for longer ones.)\u00a0 Various reporters were seen transmitting their taped pre-debate
\nstories back to the newsrooms, where they will be used during the early evening\u2019s newscasts. Many of them also delivered \u201clive\u201d
\nreports during their early evening\u2019s newscasts. Among the local TV stations was CNN, where I caught a glimpse of
\nWhite House correspondent Jon King pre-recording an interview with SC Governor Mark Sanford.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

At the back of the convention center sat the huge uplink satellite dish which sends the video and audio signals
\nfrom the debate site to a geo-synchronous Earth orbiting satellite, then back down to FOX News headquarters
\nand from there to cable and satellite systems nationwide.\u00a0 I was allowed inside the control room truck briefly to
\nwitness technical production crews rehearsing for the debate and the post debate analysis program.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

During the actual debate broadcast, the truck will be a hub-hub of activity. A director will call the shots from
\nthe various cameras positioned inside the convention center. Some cameras will be focused on specific candidates;
\nothers will be on the debate moderator. The director decides which camera shots get on the air. Along side the
\ndirector is a technical director.\u00a0 Also in the control room are those responsible for the words that are superimposed
\non the screen for the audience to read. All of the video and audio, go from the control room truck out to the big satellite dish.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Inside the convention center, a ballroom had been set up for the more than 100 print and broadcast reporters,
\nphotographers and bloggers who had gathered to cover the debate. The space is entirely WiFi capable so that
\nall have high-speed wireless Internet access to file their stories, transmit their photos, or blog. At the front of
\nthe room, a large video projector displays the FOX News Channel\u2019s signal. (Sprinkled among the news coverage
\nare various spots touting Myrtle Beach as a great vacation spot\u2014let\u2019s not forget this heavily viewed event is
\nalso a tourism director\u2019s dream come true.) Laptops, cell phones, PDAs and digital cameras are the tools of the
\ntrade for most of these journalists. Prior to 9pm, the debate starting time, groups of people are comparing notes
\nand eating dinner. \u00a0As debate time draws nearer, the ballroom gets busier and louder. The big screen no longer
\nprovides a feed of the FOX News broadcast but instead we are allowed to see the director running though the
\nvarious cameras shots he plans to use and endless repeats of the opening debate video.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A Charlotte NC radio station, whose strong signal can be heard in both North and South Carolina, was
\nbroadcasting live and had arranged interviews with both Governor Sanford and SC US Senator Jim DeMint.
\nBoth were questioned about the race and South Carolina\u2019s role in it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

At 8:45pm all of the photographers were ushered into the debate set through the back doors in order to
\ncapture images of the candidates on stage. This occurred because no photography is allowed during the
\ndebate broadcast itself.\u00a0 While we were led in, members of the audience (estimated to be about 3000)
\nwere heard screaming out specific candidates\u2019 names, which was followed by cheers for that candidate.
\nAs the candidates stood patiently on stage, photographers jockeyed for position. About five minutes before
\nthe debate was to begin, we were quickly led back to the media ballroom.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Now it’s time for many to transmit their images back to the home office. A news photographer begins the
\nprocess of selecting and editing photos he took of the candidates on stage. The photographer is also a \u201cphoto-journalist\u201d
\nand is required to provide the caption that best describes the image. The photo and caption are transmitted via computer
\nand WiFi to his news organization. News consumers see these images in the morning newspaper, news websites,
\nor the morning TV news programs.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Following the 90 minute debate, reporters, photographers and others were ushered into the \u201cspin room\u201d\u2014
\na large space set aside adjacent to the debate location, where candidates and their surrogates met with the
\nmedia to provide background on analysis on the debate. The room was decorated with FOX NEWS and YOU DECIDE signs.
\nSpinning is a big part of debates: if a candidate said something misleading or wrong, he or his representative gets a
\nchance to set the record straight. Mitt Romney was the first into the room and the media swarmed around him.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Mitt Romney is surrounded by the media prior to appearing on the FOX News<\/p>\n

Hannity & Colmes program, which had constructed its set inside the spin room. Just
\nafter I took this photo, I was not so gently bumped out of the way by a television news
\nphotographer.<\/p>\n

As candidates came off the debate set, they were ushered into the spin room to wait
\ntheir turn to be interviewed by the FOX co-hosts.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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