Books for the News, Politics and Current Events

Newton Minow, Inside the Presidential Debates

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In the midst of the dramatic primary debates and what’s gearing up to be an embattled general election, Chicago’s NBC5 News ran an interview with one of the “pioneers of televised presidential debates,” Newton N. Minow, author of the recent Inside the Presidential Debates: Their Improbable Past and Promising Future. NBC5’s political editor Carol Marin begins her report by noting that with his wide range of experience in both television and politics—from his position as chairman of PBS to his current position as vice chairman of the Commission on Presidential Debates—”Minow is the only person to be a part of every official presidential debate between the Republican and Democratic nominees since 1960.” The interview continues with Minow’s comments on the current presidential debates: “‘I hope in the 2008 debates, the candidates will actually question each other.’ In the end, he said, the most important thing to come out of a debate is really very simple: ‘Can you trust that candidate to act in your best interest? To tell you the truth?'”
Watch the archived video of the interview on the NBC5 website.
Also see this web feature on memorable moments from presidential debates and read an excerpt from the book.