Here's what often happens behind the scenes in such media events.

When a politician (or major celebrity) and a major media forum have interest in each other, they just don't set up the show and turn the cameras on. There is often a negotiation between the two parties as to how this interview is going to take place. The terms are written down into formal contract. Quite often, the politicians put certain questions off limits or frame the questions for the interviewers to use. In this way, any controversy is removed or reduced.

I recently watched an interview between Al Franklin (now a late-night talk show host) and Lindsay Graham. Al did ask some good questions about Graham's support of Mr. Trump. It seemed Mr. Graham had his answers prepared. This was a staged event: Mr. Graham was not embarrassed. Mr. Franikin got a good skit to get ratings. And it seemed reasonably truthful. But their handlers designed this skit beforehand.

I stumbled into the early part of the Trump CNN debacle. The tone of the audience was such the Trump team picked that audience. Otherwise, Mr. Trump would not have agreed to that debate. For whatever reason, CNN agreed to this term.

There might have been some negotiation between the Trump team and CNN about the questions. But Mr. Trump has an uncanny way of getting around hard questions anyways--at least as far as his base is concerned.

There is a lot of staging of what the political show is going to look like--beforehand. Politicians need the media--and the media need the politicians. It' a symbiotic relationship.

It's time for a new way.

You might be interested in my article about "Inside Olympia". This is the job the media should really be doing.

https://medium.com/tiered-democratic-governance/tv-review-inside-olympia-4a93eec1931c