"In an open letter to ABC, journalists and media analysts condemn the network's poor handling of the April 16 Democratic presidential debate".

-snip-

Here's an excerpt of that letter:

"For 53 minutes, we heard no question about public policy from either moderator. ABC seemed less interested in provoking serious discussion than in trying to generate cheap shot sound-bites for later rebroadcast. The questions asked by Mr. Stephanopoulos and Mr. Gibson were a disgrace, and the subsequent attempts to justify them by claiming that they reflect citizens' interest are an insult to the intelligence of those citizens and ABC's viewers. Many thousands of those viewers have already written to ABC to express their outrage...

In the words of Tom Shales of the Washington Post, Mr. Gibson and Mr. Stephanopoulos turned in "shoddy, despicable performances." As Greg Mitchell of Editor and Publisher describes it, the debate was a "travesty." We hope that the public uproar over ABC's miserable showing will encourage a return to serious journalism in debates between the Democratic and Republican nominees this fall. Anything less would be a betrayal of the basic responsibilities that journalists owe to their public."

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080505/open_letter
Journalists Slam ABC Debate Tactics
April 18, 2008
-snip-

The journalists signing this online letter were affiliated with one of 20 different media and/or universities.