Oct

18

Debate tonight? What debate?

October 18, 2006 | 9 Comments

Tonight Senate candidates Jim Talent and Claire McCaskill debate here in KC, but you won’t be able to see it locally. Debate sponsor KMBC-TV 9 doesn’t want to preempt Dancing with the Stars or Lost, so the debate will be tape-delayed until Thursday at 7:00 p.m. They are also prohibiting their public broadcasting co-sponsors KCUR-FM and KCPT-TV from showing the debate live.

KMBC’s peers in St. Louis and Springfield aired those debates live. If this bothers you, here is contact info for all three stations:

More info at the Star’s Buzz Blog

Update: KMBC-TV says they’ll be streaming the debate live on their web site.

Categories: Media, Politics, US Senate - MO


Comments

9 Comments so far

  1. pendergasted on October 18, 2006 7:21 am

    Dissappointed, yes. Surprising, no. After all, this is the same televison station that would rather air sitcom reruns than Nightline.

  2. ChrisM70 on October 18, 2006 9:40 am

    I think this is a very disturbing story.
    Of course we all know who is to blame…

    Us.

    We ignore politics, we vote for who we think looks the best instead of who is best qualified, and we can’t stop being infatuated by media-generated celebrities. I have no idea who Sara Evans is, but that didn’t stop the media from spending the last 3 days talking about her!

    WE the people need to demand more not just from the news media and our politicians, but from OURSELVES. We all need to find the time to understand the issues, and then get off our lazy butts and VOTE. If not, we end up where we are now – in a terribly bloody, expensive war run by a President that was/is never questioned by the Congress.

    The next episode of “Survivor” or “Gray’s Anatomy” isn’t going to change your life – however, the election of Jim Talent or Claire McCaskill will. The vote for stem cell research could change lives.

    So what’s it going to be Missouri? Are you satisfied to watch a bunch of washed-up celebrities prance around while the people who really effect your life are being decided?

    Your choice.

  3. ChrisM70 on October 18, 2006 10:25 am

    P.S. KMBC tells me that they are NOT prohibiting the other stations from running the debate live.

    Here’s the quote:
    “We did not forbid them from showing it.
    When working with the campaigns, this was the only date they agreed on for Kansas City. It was not one we proposed because of scheduling conflicts.
    So that is what we had to live with.”

    So who’s telling the truth?

  4. Justcara on October 18, 2006 12:12 pm

    What’s the real difference between a St. Louis or Springfield debate vs. a Kansas City debate? Oh, just 765,000+ KANSAS residents of the Metro who have no vote in the Talent/McCaskill race.

    Also, the two “Dancing with the Stars” episodes from last week were ranked #3 and #5 nationwide according to the Neilsen ratings. It would be a poor business decision for an affiliate to pre-empt a top 5 show for a debate (without commercial interruption) that probably only 25% of their regular Wed. night viewers would watch.

    Let’s be realistic. It’s not like KMBC is showing the debate AFTER the election – they are just delaying it a day. Big deal. This is a tempest in a teapot.

  5. ChrisM70 on October 18, 2006 3:35 pm

    It seems to me that the real issue is why isn’t anyone ELSE trying to televise these debates? We have a lot of TV channels…Couldn’t Time Warner or other cable companies just air the debate on public access? How about “The Spot”?

    Doesn’t the media have some responsibility beyond ratings? How about what is best for the public?
    I truly believe that if the media starting treating debates, politics, international news, etc. as important, people would start to believe it.

  6. ChrisM70 on October 18, 2006 6:29 pm

    Lemming, you surely ARE a lemming.
    You can’t criticize someone for bad grammar if you can’t SPELL grammar.

    The issue here is that ABC/KMBC feels that dancing D-list celebrities are more important that the politicians that make decisions that effect our lives.

    Why not tape-delay the dancing show? Because it is all about ratings, that’s why. We all need to take a good look at where our priorities lie.

  7. ChrisM70 on October 18, 2006 8:34 pm

    From Wikipedia:

    “Lemmings are small rodents…the term “lemming” is often used in slang to denote those who mindlessly follow the crowd, even if destruction is the result.

    Sounds accurate.

  8. BlogKC on October 18, 2006 9:29 pm

    William Buckley returns as lemming, and as crazy as ever. buy-bye.

  9. logtar on October 20, 2006 9:44 am

    This should be very interesting to watch… I wonder if they would go all out… Cheat… liar… cheat… liar. LOL

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