For the Media

More years ago than I’d like to admit, I was fortunate enough to land an internship with Late Night with David Letterman on NBC. Although interns on the show were–literally–forbidden to speak with the host unless first spoken to, I’d like to think I got a fairly good insight into the “real” David Letterman during my summer there.

Because of that experience, I have been particularly interested to watch the developing feud between Letterman and John McCain over the past few weeks. When McCain bailed on Letterman at the last moment to “return to Washington” during the early days of the current economic crisis, he clearly irked Letterman. But when it became clear that McCain had, in fact, remained in New York City and instead chosen to be interviewed by Katie Couric of the CBS Evening News, Letterman went ballistic, excoriating McCain during that (and nearly every subsequent) show for his deception.

McCain’s appearance on Thursday night’s show was an attempt to stop the bleeding. His initial response to Letterman’s hectoring (“I screwed up”) was a good start, but the highly confrontational tone of the interview was another repercussion of McCain’s mistake. And from the questions asked, it seemed clear to everyone that Letterman has concluded that McCain chose an unqualified running mate and that his campaign’s attacks on Obama’s association with William Ayers.

Despite the hostility of the interview, however, it appears McCain helped his flagging campaign with the appearance. My colleague Matthew Baum has noted in several articles on “soft news,” appearances on such programs are one of the best ways to reach inattentive or relatively apolitical viewers (see here and here for examples). In a campaign in which the party faithful are being exceptionally, well, faithful to their respective candidates, McCain must fight tooth and nail for the votes of independents and undecided voters. Soft news or interview programs like Letterman are golden opportunities to reach such voters: They are disproportionately likely to watch such shows, versus traditional news programs, and the content of such programs are likely to be more engaging and interesting to viewers who typically tune out politics. It’s also likely no accident that both McCain and Obama placed paid advertisements in the show. McCain’s was a minute-long piece that began with an implicit criticism of the Bush Administration’s handling of the last eight years–a pretty clear attempt to appeal to moderate voters dissatisfied with the current situation.

The interview has also scored a tremendous amount of attention, attracting Letterman’s highest ratings in the past few years (ironically, the highest since Letterman had Oprah Winfrey on to settle a previously simmering feud), as well as considerable amount of coverage in other media. Google News, for example, currently links to more than 1,300 related stories about the interview. Combined with Sarah Palin’s appearance on Saturday Night Live, it seems clear that the McCain-Palin campaign, which previously attacked Obama’s “celebrity,” is desperately trying to make their candidates soft news stars.

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<a href="http://www.odlotowewakacje.com/ says:

In my observation of Letterman over the years, it seems clear to me that Letterman is generally apolitical and nonpartisan in his core temperament. Like many people who aren’t deeply ideological or obsessive about politics, he also seems to be prone to generalizing based on observation of anecdotes or personal characteristics. Letterman also appears to despise pretension and arrogance. Quite of bit of what led to Letterman’s early reputation as a “mean” interviewer seems to have been based on his hostile reaction to guests that seemed to be displaying one or both of these characteristics. By canceling his appearance at http://www.odlotowewakacje.com the last minute (apparently under false pretenses), McCain blundered into a perfect storm of Lettermania, and has been paying the price since. McCain’s appearance on Thursday night’s show was an attempt to stop the bleeding. His initial response to Letterman’s http://www.google.ie hectoring (“I screwed up”) was a good start, but the highly confrontational tone of the interview was another repercussion of McCain’s mistake. And from the questions asked, it seemed clear to everyone that Letterman has concluded that McCain chose an unqualified running mate and that his campaign’s attacks on Obama’s association with William Ayers.

Bisnis Online says:

McCain is someone who is sportif, he can accept defeat. http://bisnis-online-internet.blogspot.com/

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Lettermania: McCain goes soft (news)

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