ABC's 'Shoddy,' 'Shallow,' 'Shameful' Debate

ABC News seems to have missed a memo. Network news is supposed to be boring; it's cable news that's supposed to be trashy.

ABC is getting slammed just about everywhere for the way Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos moderated last night's debate between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. At issue is the way Gibson and Stephanapoulos gave over most of the discussion to gotcha-style sound-bite scandals like Obama's "bitter" comment and Clinton's false sniper anecdote.

Tom Shales calls their performance "shoddy" and "despicable"; Andrew Sullivan says it was "petty, shallow, process-obsessed"; Greg Mitchell labels it "a shameful night for U.S. media." Matt Cooper singles out Gibson for rebuke, calling his manner "unctuous and petty and wrong." And the list goes on and on. MoveOn is already circulating a petition asking the media to stop hurting America, or somesuch.

Naturally, ABC has its defenders, not least Stephanapoulos himself, who says his questioning was "tough but appropriate." (Speaking of appropriate, I wonder if this episode will call more attention to the fact that ABC has a former top Bill Clinton aide acting as the supposedly impartial referee of a debate featuring Hillary Clinton. I realize Stephanapoulos isn't exactly regarded as a loyalist, for obvious reasons, but maybe next time he ought to recuse himself, for appearances' sake if nothing else?)

Bad news for those hoping this might inspire some soul-searching at ABC and within the media in general: Last night's debate was the highest rated of any so far this election cycle.