Should presidential debates be open to real questions?
If you've been watching the presidential debates you probably notice that they really aren't debates. They are fabricated pseudo-news events where the candidates determine the terms and therefore get to spout off the same rehearsed messages that they are slinging at rallies and through ads. Why can't we have real debates, real town hall meetings, and real press conferences, where citizens and the press extemporaneously engage with candidates, and where the candidates get to go at it no holds barred?
If you feel passionately about the need for presidential candidates to be required to be put in front of a crowd of people and journalists for true questioning, you can say so in an essay contest this month, sponsored by ASNE's Sunshine Week Citizen Journalism Awards. Anyone can enter, writing 1,000 words or less, due by Nov. 10. Each monthly winner will be eligible for the grand prize to be awarded during Sunshine Week in March. See the Web site for more information.