Gauge This: Why The CNN Audience Reaction Meter Sucks
Photo: Biden offers his stance on the Iraq War.
There’s a odd trend in the US that wants to mess with the TV aesthetics of things that aren’t broken.
For example: illuminating the movement of the puck during a hockey game back in 1996. Rather than aid the viewer, the effect resembled a lazer shooting around the ice. Thankfully the effect was dropped two years later.
But now this trend is affecting the news.
Anyone watching the debates on CNN were treated to an “audience reaction meter” - basically seismographic lines running along the bottom of the screen.
The idea is that voters from each party can register their “gut reactions” in real time while the candidates face-off. Viewers at home, like myself, can see if our own feelings mirror these lines on the screen and see if we match up.
On the one hand, it seems like an interesting idea. On the other, not so much.