[XIII]

I've always think for a debate format, you need someone to crack the whip and rein things in.

[thegeek]

The debates were not good viewing. Julie found it hard to take control, mixture of the format of it and the people themselves.

The Election Interviews currently going out with the other 4 parties seems to be going out live from the News at Ten studio with Anushka at the desk. I thought it may have been pre-recorded but as you can see the time in the background, it does seem to be going out live.

In case anyone's wondering, the leaders interviews in 2019 came from the BT Sport studio, using a slimmed down version of the debate set:
www.youtube.com 

YouTube - The ITV Election Interviews with Jo Swinson, Nicola Sturgeon, Nigel Farage and Sian Berry | ITV News
The special one-hour live interview programme at 10pm offers party leaders the chance to set out their own electoral offer and make observations on what has ...
  Source: www.youtube.com

I'm not sure if different candidates would have fared better with the 45 second rule - Starmer seemed to be taking a long-winded route to get to answering the question and seemed to be just reaching the point at the time he was cut off, and Sunak was prefacing his answers with standard soundbites. Would we have just seen the same result with a 60 second limit?

I thought the director was doing a good job of anticipating reactions as the show went on, and there was some judicious use of the split-screen.

One-on-ones with the candidates do feel like a better format for this kind of thing though - there really needs to be more robust fact-checking by a moderator rather than claim and counter-claim.

[alfiejmulcahy]

Can't think of ITV using YouTube much for streaming before.

Every election since 2015 has been livestreamed on YouTube along with debates, budget statements, changes if prime minister etc.

Presumably as these events are more about making a name for ITV and proving that they can do it as well as the beeb, they're willing to sacrifice ITVX figures for the night.

[Neil Jones]

IIRC the whole concept of these election debates have their roots in the presidential debates they have in the US, and have done for the last sixty odd years. There may have been a reason why we never had them before IIRC 2010, and I think they're so American in nature and its just not the sort of thing we really do that well over here.

I know we've sort of tooted the idea off and on as well since the 60s, but nothing ever got off the ground. Tonight just proves the point; its such a stilted format compressed into a short timescale and if you remember the 2010 incarnation had 76 "rules" to it, and it was so dry it was practically suffocating.

15 years later little changes to be honest. The US debates boil down to who can shout the loudest, and the UK version boils down to who can think for themselves as opposed to being puppets.

[VMPhil]

I know I will get shouted down for this but, with the exception of the very first in 2010 moderated brilliantly by Alastair Stewart, I have found TV debates to be an obnoxious waste of time. Thorough interviews with each leader are far better, ironically - because they do not actually ever “debate” things properly.

[Alessi]

Interesting Guardian piece on the schedule juggling broadcasters are facing this summer...

www.theguardian.com 

‘Quite a nightmare’: UK media face tricky few weeks juggling football and politi…
Broadcasters weighing how to cover Euro 2024 at same time as general election, w…
  Source: www.theguardian.com

[Stooky Bill]

I know I will get shouted down for this but, with the exception of the very first in 2010 moderated brilliantly by Alastair Stewart, I have found TV debates to be an obnoxious waste of time. Thorough interviews with each leader are far better, ironically - because they do not actually ever “debate” things properly.

I agree, they're mostly completely pointless especially the compulsion of the news to decide a 'winner' - there's no quantative factor in a debate to be able to decide that

[Alessi]

I've always think for a debate format, you need someone to crack the whip and rein things in.

Funnily enough, it's the cracking of the whip and the reining things in from the host which I find most annoying.

[James2001]

Every election since 2015 has been livestreamed on YouTube along with debates, budget statements, changes if prime minister etc.

Presumably as these events are more about making a name for ITV and proving that they can do it as well as the beeb, they're willing to sacrifice ITVX figures for the night.

The Queen's death was livestreamed on Youtube too, the videos of their coverage of that are still up there.

www.youtube.com 

www.youtube.com 

[lookoutwales]

Here’s how the debate and interviews fared ratings-wise.

Down by around half on the very first debate in 2010.

x.com