Here is the text of an email I sent to each news division:
I am just writing to let you know that I found the big “debate” of this evening to be a despicable farce, and the conduct of your moderators entirely unprofessional and disrespectful. If this conduct were required by the interests of good journalism for the benefit of the public at large it would perhaps be justified. But having watched, I am left with nothing. A sour taste in my mouth. An anger against the whole process which takes public servants and lays them to waste by whatever means necessary. Set the moderators against them, set them against each other, set the public against them; the guide seems to be “by any means necessary generate ratings”, as it is difficult to see that any other purpose was served.
I cannot say that I expect awe and deference before government, having lived long enough to see many hard fought elections and many administrations come and go. But I have never been so disappointed in the media of this country. The last debate in this race for the presidential nomination was under your watch, and you turned it into a vicious farce. It should have been an education on the issues, and an education on government and character, as previous debates over the years have been. Both candidates were ready to do so – they are well spoken, educated and principled, having devoted their lives to the purpose of serving their country, and they were aware of the audience of young and old here and around the world. This was incredibly important, and you made it a useless farce. You and your moderators should be ashamed.
So what can a person do about this sort of thing? Personally, I think the bile you displayed this evening, can only be answered by my exit from your customer base. That is, I will not watch another program you produce or provide on your network, ever. You have gained yourself a determined and vocal detractor, and it is hard to conceive of anything you could do to reverse matters.
If ten years down the road your network lays in bankrupt ruins, having slowly shrunk to nothing, bleeding cash all the way, that will satisfy me. I will be happy to explain to my daughters exactly the character you demonstrated, and the inevitable consequences of bad character.
That all I have to say.
(...)
For what it is worth.
Their email links are here:
http://abcnews.go.com/Site/page?id=3068843