Presidential Debate

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/topic/politics/

Background:Many Americans have not made up their minds about whom to vote for and the upcoming presidential and vice presidential debates will help them decide. Explain to your students that often viewers react to a candidate's performance-- how they look and act instead of what they say. This activity is designed to help them focus on what the candidates say and then look at how the media covers the debate and the consequent effect on public opinion.

Procedure:BEFORE THE DEBATE
1. Pass out the ballot based on the National Forensic League's public forum debates, and explain that this will help them focus on the substance of the debate instead of just the style. 

2. Encourage them to take notes-- writing down each question and how the candidates answer it. These notes will be useful when the students are asked to defend the scores they give to the debaters. Remind them that the entire debate will be on the NewsHour's Election site the day after the debate, so they can replay key exchanges.

3. Suggest that the students refrain from watching "analysts" or "experts" on TV-- or read any post-debate analysis until after they have filled out their own ballot.

AFTER THE DEBATE
1. The day after the debate, go over the ballots in class. Are the ratings consistent or not? Students can discuss their ratings and use the RealAudio or a transcript on the Web to defend their arguments. 

2. If you want, the class can write a critique of the debate and e-mail suggestions to the candidate's Web sites. (Also to NewsHour Extra for possible publication on the Web site.)
Media Coverage of the Debates

1. Ask students to pick a newspaper article or television show and fill out the following worksheet: How the Media Covers the Debates Students are asked to look for the criteria they used when rating the debaters' performances (analysis, evidence, reasoning, cross-fire, rebuttal, delivery) and then analyze what the media portrays as the most important part of the debate.
2. Students can then present their article and discuss the media coverage of the debates. (Examples of questions to foster discussion: Do you think the coverage is fair and accurate? Is it slanted one way or the other? Why might that be? How might you have done it differently?)