MTV's Candidate Dialogues Are On Deck

MTV's "dialogues" with the candidates are starting up next week, beginning with John Edwards on September 27th. As we reported here just a few weeks ago, these dialogues have the potential to be the most interactive and informative debates thus far in an election cycle that's seen some decent innovation in how candidates and the public interact. Streamed live over MySpaceTV.com and MTV.com, the debates offer the chance for viewers to provide instantaneous feedback and ask new questions in response to answers provided by the candidates.

The kind folks at Mashable have produced this early glimpse at the MTV MySpace Widget that will allow viewers to rate the candidate's responses in real time.

have somewhat unreasonably high hopes for this debate, though there are a few minor SNAFUs that are giving me pause.

First, a video on MTV's website describing how to participate was unembeddable here on the FM site (even though MTV supplied an embed code), and information on the event is no where to be found on the MySpace Impact page. I understand that participation requires placing a candidate in your top 8 friends, but beyond that I'm still a bit mystified as to how I submit a question via MySpace. I'll probably end up trying through the MTV website as this seems the least confusing option (though I'm not sure if the candidate rating system is available both at MTV and MySpace, or just on the social networking site.

These were good moderator choices: Gideon Yago, whose political coverage has particularly impressed me as hard-hitting and genuine, is one of the moderators along with SuChin Pak, my 1 all-time favorite MTV News correspondent, and Washington Post reporter Chris Cillizza. I've got a easy time seeing Yago and/or Pak really push these candidates on their answers, something that I think is a requirement for these dialogues to be really worthwhile... Chris Cilliza is a wild card in this equation, and could swing either way.

The third strike is the day and time of the event-- Thursday at noon? Whose got time to watch a live debate on MySpace in the middle of the day? Students are likely in class or roaming campus, away from their computers, and young adults will be at work. These debates should have been held at 7 or 8pm, when everyone is home and has time to sit in front of their computer. The point of making them interactive is to encourage participation, but MTV is discouraging participation by scheduling the event in the middle of the work day.

Despite this, I remain cautiously optimistic. I hope these events will be groundbreaking, though they could easily just fizzle out. We'll find out next Thursday at noon, when John Edwards takes the stage in the first of this live series.

My Version of this story:
The Voting system is different from a traditional poll vote. There are some funny and oddball choices, such as "full of bull," "Canned/Scripted," and more. The timing of the day was dumb-- it should have been at 7, 8, or even 9P EDT, not no fucking noon, as the majority of MTV's and MySpace's target audience will be at school or work.

The selection of the moderators was excellent... as Gideon Yago, whose reports at MTV were mostly politics and 100% accurate, unbiased, and honest-- Iraq reporting included, plus has a political background, so Yago was a good selection. The next reporter, also from MTV News, is my all-time 1 favorite, and the answer to that question is SuChin Pak, who has a background in political science and a lengthy pre-MTV News media resume, was on James Logan High School's Forensics Team, and graduated from UC-Berkeley. Pak, whose is the best female MTV News reporter of all-time (yes, even better than either Alison Stewart or Serena Altschul.) and may very well be MTV News's best correspondent of all-time, along with MTV News icon Kurt Loder.
Also, Pak is my 1 favorite correspondent on MTV News of all-time, and was another good choice to moderate the debate, giver her credentials as a news reporter at MTV and at several pre-MTV positions. What if MTV News didn't acquire Pak in 2001, would MTV News exist now? Think about it, but the answer to that would be that MTV News would not be a major force it is now. MTV News is due to collapse eventually, but it's not happening while Pak, Loder, or Kash are working on the 29th Floor at 1515 Broadway. I am thinking that Pak will be her usual truthful, honest, unbiased, and accurate self on Thursday. But lastly, Chris Cillizza, who I don't care about as much as the first 2 choices, could have some factor. Thank God that Idiot John Norris wasn't chosen to moderate, as he has been a known steroid taker, a lying journalist, and a thief, among other stupid shit he's pulled. Norris needs to be fired from MTV News.

My verdict on the moderator selections: SuChin Pak will be the best of the 3 moderators of the MTV/MySpace Debate w/John Edwards, but Gideon Yago will have a big impact as well. Chris Cillizza, who may or may not factor in, could have the spoiler role.

I will be paying attention to this in the coming days, and when these debates are coming up, I will have my takes on them.

The only knock is the timing of the debate, but otherwise good event to have.

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