Martin 1

Jeff Martin
Professor Hall
COMM-509 Final Paper
3 December 2015
A Debate or Fight Night? A Look at CNNs Two Primary Debates in the 2016 Cycle
In this 2016 election cycle, weve seen several trends coming into play; the Year of the
Outsider, the Year of the Has-Been, and most importantly, the Year of the Free-For-All.
However, all of that has paled to the spectacle of the primary debates. Fueled by the
participation of billionaire Donald Trump and egged on by heavy advertising, theyve soared
to unheard of ratings heights and have totally dominated the conversation in the presidential
race.1 However, thats only on the Republican side. Theres been very little coverage of the
Democratic debates, compared to the Republican ones. In fact, a common question when
talking about the race is wait, the Democrats are having debates? In order to fully
understand if there is a disparity in coverage and to see if there is a qualitative difference, this
case study will focus on CNNs two debates, as they are the only network and political team
to host a debate from each party. In addition, both debates were held within three weeks of
each other.
So is there an actual disparity? Did the CNN GOP debate get more coverage than the
Democratic one? Was the coverage qualitatively different? If so, how and why? And was it
influenced by the particular candidates or party involved?
The answer to the most basic question, is there a disparity in coverage, is yes. As analysis of
the coverage shows, the Republican debate was treated as a spectacle for the publics

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enjoyment, while the Democratic debate was treated as a substantive policy debates. In
addition, the questions asked at the debates were not equal. While quality questions were
asked at both, a far greater amount of the Republican questions bordered on the inappropriate,
and appeared to have been designed to create conflict between candidates, rather than provide
information.2
However, while most Republicans would tell you that the reasoning is the liberal
media bias of CNN, its not. The GOP had provided a great amount of material that can be
taken and promoted as entertainment, particularly the antics of Donald Trump.3 Also, the
Democratic race had proved to be incredibly boring, making possible television ratings much
lower.4 In short, Republicans provided far more fodder for entertainment, making their
debates much easier to promote, meaning higher ratings.
The evidence for the disparity in the pre-debate coverage and setup is striking. The
Democratic debate was promoted like any other debate. Commercials and web images
promoting the leading candidate, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her main
challenger, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders were on the airwaves, but not in any large
amount. However, when we look at promotions for the Republican debate, it was promoted
like fight night. High-energy music was played, and the candidates were billed as champions
coming to the ring to fight.5 In addition, you can also look at the venues. While the
Democratic debate was held in an arena type setting, the GOP debate was held in front of
former president Ronald Reagans Air Force One on a raised platform overlooking the hills of
California. With just these few factors to study, its easy to tell just how differently the two
debates were.

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Also, the actual format for the debates was vastly different between the parties. In the
GOP debate, there was an undercard and a main stage in an eerie similarity to a boxing
title bout.6 Candidates were also positioned so that they could directly confront each other, a
la Jeb Bush and Donald Trump. CNN even went as far as framing shots before the debate to
show multiple candidates in the same camera shot, allowing for direct arguments on screen.
However, in the Democratic debate, there was one event, and very few of those twocandidate, one camera shots were used. In addition, the questions were also pointedly
different in the debates. Take the differences in the first questions asked in both debates. In the
GOP debate, moderator Jake Tapper asked the following:7
Mrs. Fiorina, I want to start with you. Fellow Republican candidate, and Louisiana Governor Bobby
Jindal, has suggested that your party's frontrunner, Mr. Donald Trump, would be dangerous as President. He
said he wouldn't want, quote, "such a hot head with his finger on the nuclear codes. You, as well, have raised
concerns about Mr. Trump's temperament. You've dismissed him as an entertainer. Would you feel comfortable
with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes?8

And in the Democratic debate, moderator Anderson Cooper asked this: 9

All right. Let's begin. We're going to be discussing a lot of the issues, many of the issues, important issues that
you have brought up. But I want to begin with concerns that voters have about each of the candidates here on
this stage that they have about each of you.
Secretary Clinton, I want to start with you. Plenty of politicians evolve on issues, but even some Democrats
believe you change your positions based on political expediency.
You were against same-sex marriage. Now you're for it. You defended President Obama's immigration policies.
Now you say they're too harsh. You supported his trade deal dozens of times. You even called it the "gold
standard". Now, suddenly, last week, you're against it.
Will you say anything to get elected?10

In both questions, the tone for the entire debate was set. On the Democratic side, the stage
was set for what many deemed a typical debate. A moderator would ask questions that voters
had about the various candidates and the individual candidate would respond.11 However, in
the GOP debate, a far different stage was set. In his question, Tapper, instead of asking a
question about Mrs. Fiorinas policy chops or something she had said, asked about something

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another candidate, based on something someone who wasnt even on the stage said. It was
purely designed to create conflict between Donald Trump and Carly Fiorina, who Trump had
insulted in the build-up to the debate. (CITE) It worked too, as later in debate, Fiorina and
Trump had this exchange:12
TAPPER: We're going to - we're going to get to many of these issues. This - we're still in the first block, believe
it or not. We're going to get to many of these issues, but before we end this block, Ms. Fiorina, I do want to ask
you about this.
In an interview last week in Rolling Stone magazine, Donald Trump said the following about you. Quote, "Look
at that face. Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?" Mr. Trump later
said he was talking about your persona, not your appearance. Please feel free to respond what you think about
his persona.
FIORINA: You know, it's interesting to me, Mr. Trump said that he heard Mr. Bush very clearly and what Mr.
Bush said. I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said.
TRUMP: I think she's got a beautiful face, and I think she's a beautiful woman. 13

In American political debate, its incredibly rare to see debate about a particular candidates
appearance, particularly about a woman in the modern GOP. Meanwhile, there were very few,
if any exchanges similar to this, with the closest being on between former Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders about Clintons email usage at the State
Department. It reads as follows:14
COOPER: We begin with Secretary Clinton. Secretary Clinton, you are going to be testifying before Congress
next week about your e-mails. For the last eight months, you haven't been able to put this issue behind you. You
dismissed it; you joked about it; you called it a mistake. What does that say about your ability to handle far
more challenging crises as president?
CLINTON: Well, I've taken responsibility for it. I did say it was a mistake. What I did was allowed by the State
Department, but it wasn't the best choice.
And I have been as transparent as I know to be, turning over 55,000 pages of my e-mails, asking that they be
made public. And you're right. I am going to be testifying. I've been asking to testify for some time and to do it
in public, which was not originally agreed to.
But let's just take a minute here and point out that this committee is basically an arm of the Republican National
Committee.
It is a partisan vehicle, as admitted by the House Republican majority leader, Mr. McCarthy, to drive down my
poll numbers. Big surprise. And that's what they have attempted to do.
I am still standing. I am happy to be part of this debate.

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And I intend to keep talking about the issues that matter to the American people. You know, I believe strongly
that we need to be talking about what people talk to me about, like how are we going to make college
affordable? How are we going to pay down student debt?
COOPER: Secretary...
CLINTON: How are we going to get health care for everybody...
COOPER: Secretary Clinton, Secretary Clinton, with all due respect, it's a little hard - I mean, isn't it a little bit
hard to call this just a partisan issue? There's an FBI investigation, and President Obama himself just two days
ago said this is a legitimate issue.
CLINTON: Well, I never said it wasn't legitimate. I said that I have answered all the questions and I will
certainly be doing so again before this committee.
But I think it would be really unfair not to look at the entire picture. This committee has spent $4.5 million of
taxpayer money, and they said that they were trying to figure out what we could do better to protect our
diplomats so that something like Benghazi wouldn't happen again. There were already seven committee reports
about what to do. So I think it's pretty clear what their obvious goal is.
COOPER: Thank you.
CLINTON: But I'll be there. I'll answer their questions. But tonight, I want to talk not about my e-mails, but
about what the American people want from the next president of the United States.
COOPER: Senator Sanders?
SANDERS: Let me say this.
Let me say - let me say something that may not be great politics. But I think the secretary is right, and that is
that the American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn e-mails.15

This exchange was about as heated as the Democratic Debate got. Questions in the rest of the
debate were more like this exchange:16
COOPER: Governor O'Malley, you passed gun legislation as governor of Maryland, but you had a
Democratic-controlled legislature. President Obama couldn't convince Congress to pass gun legislation after the
massacres in Aurora, in Newtown, and Charleston. How can you?
O'MALLEY: And, Anderson, I also had to overcome a lot of opposition in the leadership of my own party to get
this done. Look, it's fine to talk about all of these things - and I'm glad we're talking about these things - but I've
actually done them.
We passed comprehensive gun safety legislation, not by looking at the pollings or looking at what the polls said.
We actually did it. And, Anderson, here tonight in our audience are two people that make this issue very, very
real. Sandy and Lonnie Phillips are here from Colorado. And their daughter, Jessie, was one of those who lost
their lives in that awful mass shooting in Aurora.
Now, to try to transform their grief, they went to court, where sometimes progress does happen when you file in
court, but in this case, you want to talk about a - a rigged game, Senator? The game was rigged. A man had
sold 4,000 rounds of military ammunition to this - this person that killed their daughter, riddled her body with
five bullets, and he didn't even ask where it was going.
And not only did their case get thrown out of court, they were slapped with $200,000 in court fees because of the
way that the NRA gets its way in our Congress and we take a backseat. It's time to stand up and pass
comprehensive gun safety legislation as a nation.17

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This is what a debate should have as questions, tough, fair and about the issues, not
about something another candidate had said about them. There are many other examples of
the Democratic debate having far more substantive questions than the Republican one. Rather
than examine more, the next section will focus on why that it is.
Its no secret that the Republican candidate base has proven to one of the largest, most
divisive and well, entertaining groups in American history. From senators to governors to a
former neurosurgeon, and even including the unpredictable businessman Donald Trump, this
group is quite simply, a gold mine for entertainment. In order to truly understand why the
questions and style of the debates was so different, the stage must be set.
It was early September of 2015. The first GOP debate, just a month before on FOX
News, garnered over 24 million viewers, the highest ever for a primary debate in ratings.18 In
order to get similar numbers, CNN had to do something. As the transcripts and visuals show,
they chose to create an atmosphere of competition, with moderator Jake Tapper doing an
interview where he stated What the team and I have been doing is trying to craft questions
that, in most cases, pit candidates against the other.19 In this case, Tapper, and CNNs politics
team were actively advocating for a debate filled with confrontation between candidates. As
mentioned above, they did this by using creative camera shots and confrontational
questioning. They also had one thing in their arsenal that Fox did not. A possible Trump-Bush
confrontation.
Entertainer/businessman/real estate mogul Donald Trump had been targeting Jeb Bush in the
weeks before the debate. He called him low-energy and claimed he was ineffective.20 At the

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first debate, Bush had not been drawn into a direct conflict with Trump. However, for this
debate, CNN pulled out all the stops. Trump and Bush were the frontrunners. They had
podiums next to each other and questions were readied to allow for confrontation. It
culminated with this exchange: 21
TAPPER: Governor Bush, in addition to the fact that he's an outsider, one of the reasons Mr. Trump is a
frontrunner, Republican voters say, is because they like the fact that he is not bought and paid for by wealthy
donors. Mr. Trump has repeatedly said that the $100 million you've raised for your campaign makes you a
puppet for your donors. Are you?
BUSH: No. Absolutely not. People are supporting me because I have a proven record of conservative
leadership where I cut taxes $19 billion over eight years. We shrunk the state government workforce, we created
a climate that led the nation in job growth seven out of eight years. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond
rating. People know that we need principle-centered leadership, a disrupter to go to Washington, D.C. The one
guy that had some special interests that I know of that tried to get me to change my views on something - that
was generous and gave me money - was Donald Trump. He wanted casino gambling in Florida TRUMP: I didn't BUSH: Yes, you did.
TRUMP: Totally false.
BUSH: You wanted it and you didn't get it because I was opposed to TRUMP: I would have gotten it.
BUSH: - casino gambling before TRUMP: I promise I would have gotten it.
BUSH: during and after. And that's not - I'm not going to be bought by anybody.
TRUMP: I promise if I wanted it, I would have gotten it.
BUSH: No way. Believe me.
TRUMP: I know my people.
BUSH: Not even possible.
TRUMP: I know my people.
TAPPER: Is there anything else you want to say about this?
TRUMP: No. I just will tell you that, you know, Jeb made the statement. I'm not only referring to him. I - a lot of
money was raised by a lot of different people that are standing up here. And the donors, the special interests, the
lobbyists have very strong power over these people.
I'm spending all of my money, I'm not spending - I'm not getting any - I turned down - I turn down so much, I
could have right now from special interests and donors, I could have double and triple what he's got. I've turned
it down. I turned down last week $5 million from somebody.
So I will tell you I understand the game, I've been on the other side all of my life. And they have a lot of control
over our politicians. And I don't say that favorably, and I'm not sure if there's another system, but I say this. I am

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not accepting any money from anybody. Nobody has control of me other than the people of this country. I'm
going to do the right thing.
TAPPER: Governor - BUSH: You've got, according to your - to what you said on one of the talk shows, you got
Hillary Clinton to go to your wedding TRUMP: That's true. That's true.
BUSH: - because you gave her money. Maybe it works for Hillary Clinton TRUMP: I was - excuse me, Jeb.
BUSH: - it doesn't work for anybody on this - on stage.
TRUMP: I was a businessman, I got along with Clinton, I got along with everybody. That was my job, to get
along with people.
BUSH: But the simple fact is TRUMP: I didn't want to - excuse me. One second.
BUSH: No. The simple fact is, Donald, you could not take TRUMP: OK, more energy tonight. I like that.
BUSH: I was asked the question.
TRUMP: I didn't want - it was my obligation as a businessman to my family, to my company, to my employees,
to get along with all politicians. I get along with all of them, and I did a damn good job in doing it. Go ahead.
BUSH: So he supports Pelosi, he supports Schumer, he supports Clinton TRUMP: Got along with everybody.
BUSH: When he - and he - when he asked - when he asked Florida to have casino gambling, we said no.
TRUMP: Wrong.
BUSH: We said no. And that's the simple fact. The simple fact is TRUMP: Don't make things up. Jeb, don't make things up. Come on.
BUSH: Don't cut me off.
TRUMP: Don't make things up.22

These factors combined to give CNN 23.1 million viewers, the highest rated program in the
networks history.23 While much of that can be attributed to Trumps presence, CNNs
promotions effort can also be credited. The boxing style ads, combined with a relentless social
media push, definitely gave them the ratings they wanted.24 After all, who can blame them
with such a rich content pool like the Republican field.

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Therefore, it was no surprise the next month, when the Democrats met in Las Vegas for their
first debate, CNN tried similar promotion for the first few weeks. However, it did not have
near the impact as it did for the Republican Debate. In his pre-debate interview, moderator
Anderson Cooper stated that Going into the Republican debates, you pretty much knew there
were a number of candidates who were willing to [attack each other], Some lower-level
candidates wanted to punch up and try to make a name for themselves. That's not the case, so
far as we've seen, on the Democratic side.25 This was due to two factors. One, Hillary Clinton
had dominated the field since its inception and two, there was not as much value in attacking
each other as there was in the Republican debate. In addition, unlike the GOP debate, the most
exciting moment came in the exchange listed earlier in this paper between Sanders and
Clinton about her emails. The debate only garnered 15.3 million viewers, which compared to
previous Democratic debates was a record, but was around the same for primary debates in
the 2012 cycle. CNN even knew that it would be lower before the debate, seeking to dampen
expectations in an interview with DC bureau chief Sam Feist, where he stated that it would be
significantly smaller26 than the GOP debate. Obviously CNN got more out of the
Republican debate than the Democratic debate.
After reviewing the entire transcripts, video, media coverage of and promotions for each of
the two debates, its obvious that there was more coverage of the Republican debate than of
the Democratic one, the coverage and promotion was qualitatively different, with the GOP
debate covered with more of an entertainment focus, while the Democratic debate was
covered with a political focus. However, even after studying the September and October
debates, whats most interesting is what CNN will do for its December debate for the
Republicans. Already, Donald Trump is making noise about boycotting it27, foreign policy has

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leapt to the top of the news cycle, meaning it will be a main topic, and a titanic battle between
Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz is brewing.28 Promotion has already started, with the same sports
style promotions and social media advertisements.29 Will we see the same type of debate we
saw in September, or will we see a new type? Either way, coverage and promotion will focus
on the entertainment aspects more than the political aspect as they did in the previous CNN
Republican debate.

1 Gold, Hadas. "CNN's Dem Debate Draws a Record 15.3 Million Viewers." Politico. Politico Media,
14 Oct. 2015. Web. http://www.politico.com/blogs/on-media/2015/10/democrat-debate-a-ratingsrecord-214784
2 "CNN Reagan Library Later Debate Full Transcript." CNN Pressroom Blog. CNN, 16 Sept. 2015.
Web. http://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2015/09/16/cnn-reagan-library-debate-later-debate-fulltranscript/
3 "The Many Faces of Donald Trump at the CNN Debate." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvlgt-7efdw
4 "Dems Get Ready for CNN Debate Show down." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZayrUyw6o9c
5 "Lineup for First GOP Presidential Debate Announced." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tyt-TVuzKjw
6 "CNN's Debate Rules, Explained." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=SZm3qxQ07K4
7 "CNN Reagan Library Later Debate Full Transcript." CNN Pressroom Blog. CNN, 16 Sept. 2015.
Web. http://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2015/09/16/cnn-reagan-library-debate-later-debate-fulltranscript/
8 "Second 2016 GOP Presidential Debate (FULL) by CNN - 09-16-2015." YouTube. YouTube, n.d.
Web. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehRCd7f5RJc
9 "First Democratic Presidential Debate 2016 by CNN 10-13-2015 - FULL." YouTube. YouTube, n.d.
Web. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mr1KJR5UZjM
10 "CNN Democratic Debate Full Transcript." CNN Press Room RSS. N.p., 13 Oct. 2015. Web.
http://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2015/10/13/cnn-democratic-debate-full-transcript/
11 "First Democratic Presidential Debate 2016 by CNN 10-13-2015 - FULL." YouTube. YouTube, n.d.
Web. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mr1KJR5UZjM
12 "CNN Reagan Library Later Debate Full Transcript." CNN Pressroom Blog. CNN, 16 Sept. 2015.
Web. http://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2015/09/16/cnn-reagan-library-debate-later-debate-fulltranscript/
13 "Fiorina: Women Knew What Trump Meant." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4kX2tXvuVA

14 "(Democratic Debate) Sanders: 'People Are Sick of Hearing about Clinton's Emails'" YouTube.
YouTube, n.d. Web. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrBXcKcviuc
15 "CNN Democratic Debate Full Transcript." CNN Press Room RSS. N.p., 13 Oct. 2015. Web.
http://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2015/10/13/cnn-democratic-debate-full-transcript/
16 "CNN Democratic Debate Full Transcript." CNN Press Room RSS. N.p., 13 Oct. 2015. Web.
http://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2015/10/13/cnn-democratic-debate-full-transcript/
17 "(Democratic Debate) Bernie Sanders, O'Malley Get Testy on Gun Control." YouTube. YouTube,
n.d. Web. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXcKOGfNt3k
18 Gold, Hadas. "CNN's Dem Debate Draws a Record 15.3 Million Viewers." Politico. Politico Media,
14 Oct. 2015. Web. http://www.politico.com/blogs/on-media/2015/10/democrat-debate-a-ratingsrecord-214784
19 Stelter, Brian. "Jake Tapper on GOP Field: Let's Get Them to 'actually Debate'" CNN Money. CNN,
13 Sept. 2015. Web. http://money.cnn.com/2015/09/13/media/jake-tapper-republican-primary/
20 Zimmerman, Neetzan. "Trump Hits 'low Energy' Bush over Sleeping Supporter." TheHill. Capitol
Hill Publishing Group, 08 Sept. 2015. Web. http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/donald-trump-jeb-bushlow-energy-sleeping-supporter-troll
21 "CNN Reagan Library Later Debate Full Transcript." CNN Pressroom Blog. CNN, 16 Sept. 2015.
Web. http://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2015/09/16/cnn-reagan-library-debate-later-debate-fulltranscript/
22 "Trump, Bush Square off over Casinos in Florida." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rDUYZIUUjs
23 Gold, Hadas. "CNN's Dem Debate Draws a Record 15.3 Million Viewers." Politico. Politico Media,
14 Oct. 2015. Web. http://www.politico.com/blogs/on-media/2015/10/democrat-debate-a-ratingsrecord-214784
24 December 15: CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate Full." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQaO5ZCwryI
25 Stelter, Brian. "Anderson Cooper Prepares 'pointed Questions' for First Democratic Debate." CNN
Money. CNN, 11 Oct. 2015. Web. http://money.cnn.com/2015/10/11/media/anderson-cooperdemocratic-debate-plan/
26 Gold, Hadas. "CNN Expects significantly Smaller Ratings for Dem Debate." POLITICO. Politico
Media, 12 Oct. 2015. Web. http://www.politico.com/story/2015/10/cnn-democratic-debate-ratingsexpectations-214664

27 Collins, Eliza. "CNN Denies Trump's Demand to Donate $5 Million, Risking Debate
Boycott." POLITICO. Politico Media, n.d. Web. http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/cnn-rejectstrump-debate-demands-216388
28 Lowry, Rich. "Rubio vs. Cruz: The Race Conservatives Have Dreamed Of." POLITICO Magazine.
Politico Media, 02 Dec. 2015. Web. http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/12/rubio-vs-cruzthe-race-conservatives-have-hoped-for-213410
29 December 15: CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate Full." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQaO5ZCwryI