TV election debates have only been held in recent years, so broadcasters are still experimenting with the format. Will any be held, who will take place, how they will be organised, which topics will be included (or even the focus), and how the audience will be selected.
With controversy over all of the above, and the public view that many politicians do not acquit themselves on on such occasions, BBC's Martha Buckley gathered some tips for improving them.
Turn off the microphones
No-one likes people interrupting and talking over each other. Discussions become confrontations.
Solution: Switch off individual microphones when it is not that person's turn to speak. As soon as each person finished talking, turn them off.
Advantage: Knowing they will go silent could also stop 'filibustering' - trying to reduce the time available by others by refusing to stop talking.
Force politicians to actually debate
At present UK televised debates 'tend to feature glitzy sets, rows of podiums and heavy intervention from moderators.' Compared to other countries, they are quite short which results in emphasis on sound bites and not much substance.
Solution: Longer two person debates with candidates sitting across a table and no studio audience. Can be two intellectual heavyweights focusing on serious issues, listening to each other's points and responding reasonably or more brutal encounters trading bitter insults.
Advantage:These make for more compelling viewing and viewers are left in little doubt about who stood for what.
Robot Fact Checkers
At present it seems we can't trust politicians to get the facts right and tell the truth - so debates become meaningless in helping voters understand intentions and promises. Fact-checking (e.g. independent fact-checking charity Full Fact and BBC Reality Check) helps but during a debate you would need to be looking at online updates or read the verdicts after the debate. So politicians might not be adequately held to account.
Solution: More use of on-screen fact checked text boxes during the debate. The challenge is to do it fast enough. Full Fact is developing software that can check facts faster than humans, and training machines to spot claims and trawl for relevant data.
Advantage: This is something that audiences really want and would mean less claims would pass unchallenged.
Ban Cheering and Clapping
Today audiences are less respectful and have become more polarised and more vocal - cheering, clapping and booing.
Solution: Go back to silence and aim for an audience of genuinely undecided voters.
Advantage: This would remove the distortion of audiences and change the atmosphere in the studio.
Make the Audience More Real
Ordinary members of the public are typically asked to submit questions but this might be taken further. But politicians can wriggle out of questions and deflect more detailed scrutiny, and appear removed from 'ordinary' people.
Solution 1: Ask people to send in video clips about their lives and problems, which could be used without prior knowledge of politicians at any point in mid-debate. Ask what they specifically could do to help this person.
Solution 2: Broadcasters could use a different format and ask politicians to convince a real voter while cameras roll.
Solution 3: A conversation, not a debate with a member of the public trying to find out about the politician, and how their life influences their policies and beliefs.
Advantage: This could help politicians make emotional connections with voters and could be riveting viewing.
Regulate Them
Broadcasters and politicians come up with different rules each time, as each works for conflicting aims. (1) Politicians want to get their message across and avoid any chance of a negative clip going viral. (2) Broadcasters want to make good TV. (3) There is a need in a democracy to actually inform voters. At present, (1) and (2) dominate at the expense of (3).
Solution: Follow the US and Canada, which each have an independent commission to organise official election debates.
Advantage: They have clear rules, consistent formulas for deciding who is invited to take part in which debates, and are the same each time.
[In the UK, Sky News has a Make Debates Happen campaign. Despite more than 140,000 signatures, the parliamentary debate on the petition failed. The Government responded 'Televised election debates are a matter for political parties. The government has no plans to change electoral law to make the debates mandatory.']
My reaction: Oh well, turkeys don't vote for Christmas, do they?
Source: BBC news item by Martha Buckley: Six Ways to Improve Political Interviews on 6 Dec. 2019
