![]() ![]() They can’t even really speculate about those qualities. Thus, viewers don’t learn anything about the candidates, their policies, or their strategies from this event. But because political candidates aren’t in control of their debate destiny in the same way that a team owner can pick their favorite player to sign, there’s next to no way for those candidates to strategize or think about what to do at the debate in advance of the “draft” because they’re literally just learning who they’ll be up against as the audience is. I might not have any influence over what my favorite team does, but when the team chooses its next player, I get a sense of what they’re trying to do in the upcoming season.Īnd to a certain degree, the “slate of candidates is divvied up between the two nights, then a panel of pundits offers some analysis” structure of The Draw bears some broad similarities to coverage of the NFL or NBA drafts. Perhaps a more accurate description of whatever CNN was up to here would be “a political version of a professional sports draft.” The key difference being that in a sports draft, there’s an actual element of strategy involved. Watching The Draw, all I won was a slowly deflating sense that anything of consequence might happen. (“Andrew Yang! July 31!” cries the bingo caller, and dozens of Americans steadfastly fill out their cards to see if they’ve won a prize.) But at least a lottery or a game of bingo presents the illusion that I, the player, might win something. ![]() So, yes, it felt like a lottery, or maybe even a high-stakes game of bingo. All the while, pulse-pounding music straight out of the early rounds of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire throbbed. Then someone from CNN would draw a name followed by a date - Beto O’Rourke! July 30! - and a little headshot of O’Rourke would appear in the July 30 lineup at the bottom of the screen. The names of various candidates were tossed into one giant box, while the two dates were tossed into another. With that said, I think I have an answer for the question of how 24-hour news networks should cover the 2020 presidential election.ĬNN’s live draw to set the next presidential debate lineups was a ridiculously bombastic attempt to make bingo seem excitingĪt its core, The Draw - a special edition of Anderson Cooper 360 where CNN set the lineups for the Democratic primary debates coming up on July 30 and 31 - was a standard lottery. And in the reality TV era, 24-hour news has only further embraced that TV-friendly structure. The structure of America’s presidential elections - a huge field of candidates gradually winnowing itself down to two, in a high-stakes competition where everything is on the line - makes for inherently good television, the ultimate serialized drama or reality show. ![]() One could even suggest they shouldn’t lavish so much time on something that is still so far in the future.īut we all know better than that. One could suggest any number of answers, ranging from deep dives into the various candidates’ policy proposals to an examination of how the many many Democrats running for president might position themselves opposite Donald Trump. I am not asking a particularly original question here. How should 24-hour news networks, which have so much time to fill, cover the 2020 presidential election - an event where even the first few primaries are still months away? ![]() The episode of the week for July 14 through 20 is “The Draw,” the July 18 edition of CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, in which the lineups for the upcoming Democratic presidential debates were set. Every week, we pick a new episode of the week. ![]()
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