Election 2004: NPR Debate
Susan Feeney
NPR's Morning Edition Senior Editor
Wednesday, January 07, 2004; 10:00 a.m. ET
What is your opinion of Tuesday's radio debate hosted by National Public Radio? Which of the Democratic presidential hopefuls helped their candidacy the most? How important are these debates? What does it take to put one on?
Susan Feeney, senior editor of National Public Radio's Morning Edition and coordinator of
NPR's debate in Iowa, was online to take your questions and comments
on the event.
The transcript follows.
Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control
over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.
Susan Feeney: For us yesterdays radio debate was something we are really proud of. We did our research among people who know politics and broadcasting and found it goes back Harold Stassen and Thomas Dewey since there was a radio only candidate debate. We thought it was about time to do that again. One thing we knew going into the debate is that it would be different. There was no audience, no television cameras and the six of them were seated pretty close together around a U shaped table. Going in the dynamic was something they had not experienced before.
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Alexandria, Va.:
NPR has really played up the "radio-only" aspect of yesterday's debate. What is it about the format that you find so important? Do you consider a radio-only debate preferable to a televised one? Thanks you.
Susan Feeney: We consider debate on radio to be a debate without a lot of the trappings that modern presidential debates have. It doesn't matter what tie the candidate wears, it doesn't help one candidate to roll his eyes at another. In the 1988 campaign George Herbert Walker Bush got into lots of trouble for looking at his watch. We hoped going in and we think we were successful that by holding a radio only debate it could be a debate focused intensely on the issues without a lot of distractions. In fact, it was a sentiment shared by the candidates themselves when they left what we think was a very substantive discussion. I am happy to report we got that same feedback from our colleagues at the press corps.
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Virginia:
Where you at all disappointed that three of the nine candidates opted out of your debate? Is it hard to work within the candidate's schedules?
Susan Feeney: We were disappointed but we think the loss is theirs. Rangling the candidates was an odd experience for me since usually as a journalist you are not involved in that aspect of the debate - you go, you cover it, you don't have to worry about getting all those people in the same room,. We initially asked the candidates to participate in the spring and summer when they came to the NPR studios in Washington for interviews for Morning Edition with Bob Edwards. At the end of every interview we asked them this on tape - would they participate in an NPR radio debate - and they all said yes. There word on this turned out to be… in the end not very much. I will say that the Dean campaign never ever wavered. They gave us their word and never wavered. We did not ask General Clark because he did not join the campaign until later. We invited him and he declined - he is not campaigning in Iowa. But Sen. Edwards and Mr. Sharpton told us they would participate and they backed out.
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Cottage Grove, Ore.:
I listened to the radio debate on NPR and think Congressman Kucinich was the only candidate to stay on his message throughout the debate. He has a plan, he doesn't waffle, and it seems as if Americans want a real change from the polices of the Bush administration, Rep. Kucinich is the best of the Democratic candidates to implement that change.
Susan Feeney: I have two other stories I would like to add.
Kucinich in making his points came armed with a prop in the studio. This being radio our host Neil Conan does his best to let listeners know what is happening in the room, and this is what Neal said, "Congressman Kucinich is holding up a pie chart, which is not truly effective on the radio." There was a huge burst of laughter not just among the candidates in the room but I am told in the media-filing center as well. To his credit, Kucinich came back and said as long as Howard can see it, it was effective.
One more thing -- our enterprising young producer Brendan Banaszak collected some notes that were left behind on the table when the candidates left. There were two sheets. One was some scrawl about Medicare - boring. But the other was a phone number - and unidentified telephone number. So Brendan brings it back to our office space not quite sure what to do with it. I have been a journalist for a long time so I dialed it. I wasn't quite sure what I was going to say to the person who answered but it was going to be something like the truth - a Democratic candidate left your phone number on the debate and I was curious who it was. So the phone is ringing and ringing and then what picked up was the home answering machine for Dennis Kucinich. Now we are not sure which candidate left it, so it could be a hint that one of them are trying to woo the Representative and his supporters. But at the end of the debate the candidates all went to one side of the table to shake hands, have a picture taken, sign things, etc. So we are not sure who left Mr. Kucinich's number behind, but if anyone is looking for it, I have it.
The Dean campaign left behind a kind of cryptic flowchart on the white board of his green room. It was a little like hieroglyphics. It had all the candidates names on one side, who responded or rebutted, and sometime the subject being discussed. It was confusing and pretty clear they gave it up not too far into the two hour debate.
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Arlington, Va.:
Does NPR have any special plans surrounding this election?
Susan Feeney: We'll continue extensive coverage leading up to the Iowa caucuses and the primaries. We have a whole team of correspondents and editors in our political unit. We also have the advantage of working with NPR member stations which is crucial here in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and places like Vermont - where the Vermont NRP reporters know Howard Dean best. You will often here reports from them, which is an important component of what we do. We are really excited about the election year. Our folks are all revved up.
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Greenbelt, Md.:
Didn't hear the debate, since I work for a living. Why schedule it at a time when working people can't hear a word of it?
I hear that without the cameras present there was an actual discussion of issues for a change. Why should working people get stuck all the time with soundbites and 'analysis' instead of the actual substance of the candidates? A poor, poor choice by NPR. Get out of the office more and meet real people, then you might understand when to schedule events.
Susan Feeney: The good news is that many member stations rebroadcast the debate last night just for the reasons raised by you. If you didn't have that available where you are you can also go to our Web site npr.org where you can listen to the entire debate.
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Somewhere:
More a comment than a question. I love radio in general (old shortwave listener) and NPR in particular. I'm also interested in politics. But this debate was confusing to me for the very simple reason that with so many participants, I couldn't keep straight who was talking when.
I doubt it will happen any time soon, but I would love to hear a radio-only debate between the Republican and Democratic nominees. That would be a better "fit" to this format.
Susan Feeney: It was certainly the challenge that Neal faced, he had to be something of a conductor constantly identifying the candidates who were talking. In fact in speaking to the candidates before the debates began he emphasized to the candidates the very same difficulty of identifying them as they spoke and asked them to please signal to them when they wished to interject. I think Neal did a miraculous job of keeping listeners aware of who was talking though undoubtedly there were times when the candidates were talking over each other.
As for a general election debate we like that idea too.
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Council Bluffs, Iowa:
I am a staff member on one of the campaigns in Iowa and I wanted to thank you for providing the radio debate opportunity. From my discussions with Iowans, it seems the debate was listened to widely and many thought it was a very effective tool to compare the candidates. What kind of feedback have you received from the candidates on the format?
Susan Feeney: We have received overwhelmingly positive feedback from the campaigns and listeners. My email box is pretty well flooded from positive listener emails forwarded to me about the debate. Thank you for your question.
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Ypsilanti, Mich.:
I found that just listening to the candidates made me pay more attention to what they were actually saying. I would welcome more radio-only debates, but I doubt that many people could be enticed to listen to them. Do you have any idea how big an audience the debate had, and what are your thoughts on the future of the format?
Susan Feeney: We don't know at this point the exact audience and even in making projections it was hard to say precisely. We know that many millions of people were listening. The reason it is hard to say is that many NPR stations that do not normally carry our programming at that time of day did carry our debate. Many stations ranging from Boston to Raleigh, N.C planned to rebroadcast it in the evening so getting a hard number is difficult, but we know it was the largest audience the candidates had and probably will have before a nominee is chosen.
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Susan Feeney: It is extraordinary to work at a place where you can come up with and idea and have the president and two vice presidents, Kevin Klose and Bruce Drake and Ken Stern, say go at it and never waiver in their support. It let people like me, the executive producer Leith Bishop, Neal Conan and other organizers like Gemma Hooley, Dave Argentieri, and Jeff Rosenberg, do our most creative work and we had a terrific time.
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