Today will mark yet ANOTHER milestone in Presidential political debates (aside from television, YouTube and people labeling and denouncing each other in weblog comments sections): an online debate.
The list of “firsts” in presidential forums and debates just keeps on growing, thanks to the Internet. The Republican candidates get their shot at the first online video format, courtesy of the the CNN/YouTube debate on Nov. 28. On Sept. 12, Yahoo! will team up with liberal sites the Huffington Post and Slate (owned by The Washington Post Co.) for the first online-only debate.
The Huffington Post, in an emailed press release, gives more of the interesting details — which indicate this will truly be unlike any debate held so far:
All eight Democratic presidential candidates will participate in the first-ever, online-only presidential “mash-up,” moderated by Charlie Rose, on September 12th. Hosted by Yahoo!, The Huffington Post and Slate, the candidate forum will feature interviews with each of the Democratic candidates. Rose will ask questions submitted by online users in emails and video.
After the candidates have been interviewed, their responses will be broken into video segments that online users will be able to mash-up — creating the kind of debate they want to see. Starting September 13th, a player on Yahoo! will enable users to view only the candidates and issues they select.
The Mashup will put users in charge of shaping exactly what kind of viewing experience they want to have – from the questions that are asked to the way they can pick and choose the issues they want to hear about from the candidates they want to hear from.
Questions posed to the candidates will fall into four categories. The first three – healthcare, the Iraq war and education – were voted on by Yahoo! users. Candidates will also be asked a “wild card” question that can be about any topic.
Rose will conduct the Mashup from New York City, with candidates interviewed via satellite from their locations on the campaign trail.
If this is a big success, look for Rose et. al to offer the same thing to Republicans. If so, it might be wise to get a top Republican site in on it to make it even more appealing. The big question would then be: will Fred Thompson appear on it, or will he this time decide to go on David Letterman instead?
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.