The Last — and Most Stupid — Question of the Debate

(Editor’s note: This post was updated to include the text of the question and answer from the debate and the video.)

A group of UNLV journalism and senate students met up after the debate for drinks. Inevitably, talk turned to the separate experiences of the debate that each of the students had. Some of us were in the Cox Pavilion, some at the watch party and some were press reporting on the event.

The major opinion touted by all was that the final question of the debate was incredibly stupid.

And what made matters worse was that the girl who asked it prefaced it by saying that she was a UNLV student

One opinion was that CNN told her to ask that question as a cute wrap up to end the debate.

(This is the text of the question as posted this morning by The New York Times:)

MR. BLITZER: Thank you, Governor. Suzanne, go ahead.

MS. MALVEAUX: Maria, would you stand, please? Give us your full name.

Q Maria — (inaudible) — and I’m a UNLV student. And my question is for Senator Clinton. This is a fun question for you. Do you prefer diamonds or pearls? (Laughter.)

SEN. CLINTON: Now, I know I’m sometimes accused of not being able to make a choice. I want both. (Laughter.)

MS. MALVEAUX: Do we get to ask any of the other candidates or, I suppose, just Senator Clinton? (Cross talk.)

Q It’s the only thing shiny up there.

MS. MALVEAUX: Okay, thank you so much.

MR. BLITZER: All right, so on that note, diamonds and pearls, I want to thank all of the Democratic presidential candidates for joining us here this evening. Let’s give them a big round of applause. (Cheers, applause.)

And here is the video, courtesy of YouTube and TalkingPointsMemo:

CNN Tells UNLV Journalism School C-NO

By Aaron Murphy

When UNLV’s journalism students were told they were going to be allowed to tour CNN’s setup for the presidential debates being held on our campus, there were a lot of very high hopes.

Unfortunately most of those hopes were dashed, as the students were treated to a tour of a hallway, a dark staircase and a closed door. This closed door would prove more than symbolic for the UNLV Greenspun School of Journalism students.

When asked for an explanation for the “brief” nature of the tour by members of the faculty, Bridget Leininger, a spokesperson for CNN, said, “We are very busy getting ready for the debate. Everyone upstairs was trying to get us to get people out.”

The “upstairs” she was referring to is where all of the action would have been taking place, with anchors and reporters preparing to go on air and collecting information for their stories.

(These are photos taken of what was going on upstairs in the Thomas & Mack Center– one of many areas CNN declared off-limits to UNLV journalism students. Downstairs, a dozen or so journalism students and faculty were being stonewalled.)

Making room for the little guy has always been a problem, both in politics and in the media, and Tuesday night was a perfect example of the flaws in these systems. While one of us students may potentially be employed by this company, we were not considered of enough importance to even get a glimpse of what may very well be our future.

As is so often the case with governments, bureaucracies, or corporations, it would seem that those who have the least access and get the least respect, are the same individuals with the most drive, passion and skill for the work.

One can only hope that at some point the individuals who are making the decisions on access will be the same people with the ability and desire to identify those who truly are, and will be able to reward them for their enthusiasm.

These individuals will be the students.

These individuals will be us.