What we need are `factual’ debates
Check out an exclusive excerpt of `The Last American Newspaper’
By Ken Tingley
There was a time 20 years ago when The Post-Star was in the debate business.
Mark Mahoney, our editorial page editor, encouraged us to to get involved after the local League of Women Voters took a pass. Someone had to hold the candidates accountable, he argued. So we stepped up and were the only debate game in town for a few years.
We partnered with Adirondack Community College on one congressional debate, there was a packed house in Fort Edward when Roy McDonald was running for the Assembly and a sparse crowd at Queensbury High when Betty Little was running for re-election in the state Senate.
We learned a lot about debates, how the politicians operated and what a flawed format it could be. The debates often turned out to be more circus than a serious consideration of the issues.
Each side packed the audience with as many supporters as possible, many wore candidate buttons, and cheered wildly every time their person cleared his/her throat.
At one debate, a man stood up and began singing “Old McDonald Had a Farm” to Roy McDonald. We stood there in stunned silence not knowing what to do or what it all meant.
Another time at ACC, Rep. John Sweeney made a last-minute demand that if his opponent, Kirsten Gillibrand, didn’t release her tax returns, he wasn’t showing up.
She didn’t and neither did he.
We canceled the debate.
Democratic congressional candidate Matt Castelli tweeted out Tuesday he had accepted an invitation from TV stations in Plattsburgh and Watertown, and another one from Mountain Lake PBS to debate Rep. Stefanik. There was not word from her camp. Of course, even if they do happen, no one in the Glens Falls region would be able to see any of the debates, and considering the size of the district that is a big problem.
What may be an even bigger concern is where voters will get their information.
Who will they trust?
What will they believe?
The degree of lying in political campaigns, the reliance on attack ads and a failure for some candidate to press the flesh anymore is a concern.
There should be public debates in Plattsburgh, Glens Falls, Watertown, Saranac Lake and Potsdam so everyone gets a chance to attend, but Unless the debate format includes stopping periodically to fact check what candidates have said, I’m not sure they are worth having anymore.
So how will voters decide?
When I was editor, we tried to put together a “tale of the tape” type graphic that would succinctly articulate where the candidates stood on each issue side-by-side so readers could easily compare. Those graphics are tough to put together because often it is unclear where candidates stand on the issues.
We also used to put together candidate capsules where the candidates could talk directly to the voters, explain their qualifications and why they should be elected. That can be an enormous amount of work and with smaller staffs that is unlikely to happen anymore.
More and more newspapers are deciding not to endorse candidates because of accusations of partisanship. But if they don’t make a recomendation, who will?
Newspaper editorial boards often got to spend 30 to 60 minutes with a candidate where they could ask the tough questions, do follow-up questions and pin them down on a position. Voters do not get that opportunity and debates rarely provide that type of format.
Letters to the editor writers become cheerleaders during election season and rarely give insights into the candidates positions on the issues. They are nothing more than unpaid ads.
Places where newspapers have gone dark or had their resources reduced have led to fewer people voting citizens don’t feel they have enough information to make an informed opinion.
And with the amount of disinformation out there, perhaps they are more worried about making an uninformed decision that will come back to bite them.
Sneak preview
Over the next few weeks, I will be giving you a sneak preview of my new book “The Last American Newspaper.”
It is a memoir of the great work that was done at The Post-Star in Glens Falls, NY over the past two decades and the reporters and editors who did it.
In the book’s foreward, former Post-Star managing editor Gary Kebbel - who hired me as sports editor - describes the value that community newspapers have in their community and what happens when that work is diminished.
“Each chapter is an example of what a community loses when undiscovered, unattended, unreported problems harm the quality of life for all,” Kebbel writes. “Most chapters are a poignant story, often terribly sad, of a problem that can be lessened, if not solved, once people know about it and resolve to act with courage and conviction. Most chapters are stories of lives that could be improved or saved. This is the essence of the interrelationship of journalism, community life and democracy. We all need accurate, truthful, verified information to act on so that we can improve our lives. Communities can’t come together to fix problems that they don’t know about. Democracy doesn’t last without accurate information.”
It cuts to the heart of community journalism and why this book is so important.
An excerpt
If you are looking for a little more about the book, the Free Speech Center published an exclusive first-peak excerpt which you now get the chance to see. I hope you check it out.
Thanks, Ken. Just to add to what you say about misinformation, the lack of debates (League of Women Voters has said they had tried to contract Stefanik about a debate but she did not answer), and the refusal to write something that might be seen as "partisan" rather than straight facts --all allow conspiratorial lies and namecalling to prosper. The Post Star has tried to do reality checks; there is a group called "Vote Smart" which has a pamphlet "Voters Self Defense Manual" which lists all the important votes by all reps and senators; Will Bunch just wrote on his blog about CNN being taken over by the moneyed interests and good people quiting over the shift to to "both sides" rather than what is true-- also Post and Times which somehow do not name what is clear. Most news did not show or print Biden's excellent speech about Maga Republicans and the danger to democracy. Last night PBS World showed "Lies, Politics, and Democracy tracing the descent into total allegians and support for Trump and the lie of a "stolen election"-- the violence it allowed--the complicity of almost all of his party, the threats against all dissenters. It will be showed again on "world" on Saturday and Sunday. So thank you for your Front Page...IT is important to name and speak out....Ken Burns' new series is on the Holocaust and the complicity of the US...starting Sept. 18....I believe his research will show the roots of fascism...
thanks again,
I notice that Elise usually evades true District concerns by telling us that NY-21 voters know where she stands on guns, immigration and other MAGA triggers -- and she is responding to her "constituents." I think she's confusing "constituents" -- the citizens of the District -- with her campaign donors, whose millions mostly come from out-of-district and out-of-state sources. She certainly responds to them.