If the response by the Canadian media to last night’s televised American-Presidential debate is any indication, the spectacle promoted by the candidates rubs off on the media that cover them.
Over 80 million people tuned in to watch the debate on television with millions more following it online.
No small number of viewers were watching from Canada if the amount of attention the debate received on Canadian social and national news-media outlets is to be believed.
In the face of massive anticipation on this side of the border, several Canadian news sources, particularly Maclean’s and the CBC, scrutinized the debate as deeply, if not more than, the first Canadian Federal Leaders’ Debate of last election held in August 2015.
Many of the same ingredients were at play in the two debates, rude interjections, half-truths and outright lies to be fact checked and important issues on the agenda.
The difference in the coverage comes down to personality. Certainly many of the Canadian viewers of the American debate tuned in to find out what Trump would say next or to follow the continuing saga of Clinton’s supposed health issues than to follow any particular issue.
Canadian media coverage of the debate played into the greater interest in personalities than issues.
Elements of the Canadian media coverage, such as Maclean’s live “Skittle Meter” which tracked lies each presidential candidate told with Skittles placed in speech bubbles next to cutouts of their faces, would seem out of place without such bombastic candidates in play.