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Former NBC exec says he’s “terribly disappointed” in this year’s presidential debates

A former NBC News executive says this year’s presidential debate cycle has been “staged disappointment.”

A former NBC News executive says this year's presidential debate cycle has been "staged disappointment."

Joe Angotti is a communications professor at Monmouth College who spent more than 20 years in the broadcast business, including time as senior vice president of NBC's news division. He says he's been disappointed in the production and basic structure of this year's debates.

"People say the most outrageous things, and nobody says, 'Wait a minute, let's go back up and talk about that.' When did he lie? Why do you think he lied? Those kinds of things that are the responsibility of reporters and journalists are not being asked," said Angotti.

Angotti remembers when presidential debates had a very different format, with minimal audience involvement.

"My proudest moment at NBC was a debate that we did at the Kennedy Center in Washington. It was in 1988... Six candidates would be seated, and Brokaw would walk around the stage, and he'd go up to each candidate, and be as close as I am to you, and ask questions, then quietly ask a follow-up," said Angotti. "It just brought out a lot more information than is bring brought out now."

He believes the change is due to an increased focus on ratings. Large numbers of viewers, though, wasn't always the primary goal for networks.

"All the networks were public service agencies, and so we weren't that concerned with the amount of viewers that were watching, the amount of money that came in then. I think that's totally gone now," said Angotti.

Angotti also says the networks gave too much attention to Donald Trump at the beginning of his campaign.

However, Angotti says the media is not solely to blame for the current state of political coverage. He says the public is also at fault for accepting things that have never been accepted before.

"The whole level of discourse in politics today has been brought down to the lowest possible level, and the public has been responsible for that. The public has allowed that to happen. The television networks and the media are feeding that to the public, and the public feeds it back, and it's just gotten down to a level where it's really regrettable," said Angotti.

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