I started writing this article from Washington in the early morning hours. What I wanted to do while in the U.S. this time was to examine the reactions of American voters immediately after the U.S. presidential debate between Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris in real time by comparing the coverage of the major domestic TV networks and cable stations.
I’ve been following U.S. presidential elections for almost half a century, ever since I was a student in Minnesota in the early 1970s. Watching the debate, I am struck once again by how different U.S. media coverage of the world's biggest, longest and most expensive election event — held every four years — is from Japanese media coverage of the Liberal Democratic Party’s presidential election in Japan.
The debate coverage aired by several stations, including FOX News, MSNBC and CNN, was all the same since it was distributed by ABC News, which hosted the event. What I found most interesting, however, was the stark contrast between the commercials that aired during the debate and the comments made by the pundits afterward.
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