It took me six minutes to lose interest in a provincial leaders debate being held as part of the provincial election here in B.C. This was to be a big deal: the three party leaders being grilled by a panel to TV political journalists, the only face-to-face-to-face meeting of the Liberal, Green Party and New Democrat leaders before the May 17 vote.
What turned me off wasn’t the blatant politicking of the leaders. That’s a given now that political campaigns have been boiled down to control, image and spin. What did it wasn’t even the fact that the current premier, Gordon Campbell, not only didn’t answer the first question, he didn’t even pretend to.
What did it for me was the fact that given the total non-answer to the first question, when given a chance for a follow-up, the journalist didn’t call him on it and didn’t press him to answer the question. Given the chance, he to decided play along with the control, image and spin.
Jeebus.
TECHNORATI TAGS: MEDIA CRITICISM, BC ELECTION
This has to be the most handled election I’ve ever seen. Even though my PR ‘training’ is only really recent, something about this election just feels scripted. Rather, it’s like three different writers are trying to sell their scripts (editing not allowed, batteries not included…) to the public.
It was disturbing to watch how each party leader kept to their key messages — instead of answering questions. Then again, if they had debated, don’t you think that the public would’ve complained just how rancorous politicking had become (i.e. last year’s federal election debate).
The only bright spot: Carol James coaxed Gordon Campbell into talking about ICBC and BC Hydro. Of course, that was just good PR on the Dipper side anyway.