Fake might be too strong a word. I’d go with pre-screened. Expecting genuinely random questions from a handful of audience members to be a fair representation of the populace at large is… well… look at TV ratings, determined by a few thousand people. So they pre-screen to ensure a diverse and useful set of questions, and to ensure the people asking questions can comport themselves at the microphone. Otherwise, you get conspiracy theorists and “babba booey!”
On Fri, May 21, 2021 at 11:28 AM Doug Eastick <[email protected]> wrote: > Thanks Melissa. I kind of always assumed they are highly staged. And > I guess that's why I don't watch them much. > > But I did happen to catch the last 25 mins of Lawrence last night, where > he followed up on a vax-hesitant guy -- and they got jabbed live on MSNBC > at Walmart last night. So that was staged too. I do, however, believe > that he *was* hesitant, and the bigger story is how he changed his mind. > Kudos to his mom for joining in and getting jabbed too. > > > > On Fri, May 21, 2021 at 1:48 PM Melissa P <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> I was able to attend the MSNBC town hall last week, held at Northern >> Virginia Community College, Alexandria (where Dr. Jill Biden has taught for >> several years). >> >> Televised town halls are completely staged. It makes perfect sense, of >> course, when every minute of an hour of TV must be planned in advance. I'm >> sure everyone here already knew it, but I can at least provide first-hand >> confirmation. >> >> For example, I was not given an opportunity to ask a question. As we >> were being signed in, those given blue wrist bands had been pre-selected to >> ask a question, I later discovered. I was given a red wristband. >> >> None of us knew what the blue bands meant until the show started. In >> fact, a non-picked person was on his way to the mic when he was shooed back >> to his seat! >> >> I did get to say something to Lawrence O'Donnell afterward. When I told >> him that I loved *Mr. Sterling* and mentioned the similarity between >> Senator Sterling and Senator Manchin, he said: "I love hearing that!" >> >> It was also cool to hear President Biden, in the pre-taped interview that >> was shown before the town hall, talk about the data I used to help produce. >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "TVorNotTV" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To view this discussion on the web visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CA%2B_fQPz3PeTZNa80VevaG27ayHcFDypAJNsNP60NqvbBrakknw%40mail.gmail.com >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CA%2B_fQPz3PeTZNa80VevaG27ayHcFDypAJNsNP60NqvbBrakknw%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > > > -- > Doug Eastick <[email protected]> > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAK5Q1BoG-nvre0WxG4HoQvLPJdQJjVO0vMnWFgd%2BA0VGMLZ4HA%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAK5Q1BoG-nvre0WxG4HoQvLPJdQJjVO0vMnWFgd%2BA0VGMLZ4HA%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- Kevin M. (RPCV) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKgmY4ArVArzpTgsh7tqCrdWg1xE5EhaWvvy9pGk1q4tYOV3ZQ%40mail.gmail.com.
