Debate recordings and archives are another useful tool for
voters in the primary election
PHOENIX, July 23,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Clean Elections, Arizona's non-partisan source for voter
education is celebrating the halfway point of its historic debate
program.
This year's series premiered in partnership with the Arizona
Media Association (AMA) at BitFire Studios with hundreds of media
brands leveraging the debate content including major debates being
simulcast and all others distributed digitally throughout the
state. Arizona voters made Clean
Elections the state's authorized agency for debates and voter
education in a 1998 initiative.
"We are very pleased with the impact of our new debates format.
The content reached more Arizona
voters than ever in the history of our debates," said Clean
Elections Chair Mark Kimble. "Now
voters can refer to the recordings as they make their final choices
on their primary ballot on July
30."
Federal and statewide candidate debates from the primary
election season are archived on the Arizona Media Association
YouTube channel. In May and June, these debates aired live in
partnership with dozens of Arizona
media brands reaching audiences via TV, radio, and print/digital.
In addition, Clean Elections' long-running legislative debate
series is available on its YouTube channel. Arizona's closely contested election for
control of the legislature has been driving state political
coverage.
"Being a part of making Arizona
political debates more accessible to voters, is very meaningful for
Arizona's local media community
and a win for civic engagement," said Arizona Media Association
President and CEO Chris Kline. "The
support we received from our member media brands was amazing in
support of democracy."
Alongside support from key media and advertising partners, the
debate collaboration will produce approximately 30 political
debates before the November election for both federal and statewide
races plus several select county-level races. All debates were
simulcast with Spanish audio translation and included an American
Sign Language interpreter. General election debates will start in
September.
Another positive addition this year has been a rotating
moderator panel consisting of four experienced journalists
including: Steve Goldstein,
Richard Ruelas, Jim Nintzel, and Mary Rábago.
Primary Election Debate Highlights:
- Debate content was put to use by local media brands 529 times,
including TV broadcasts, radio broadcasts, and digital streams,
averaging 41 local media partners per debate.
- Current digital usage logged over 16 total days of watch time
or 408.1 hours, with more than 10 minutes of engaged time per
viewer.
- Journalists from 28 media brands were on site for candidate
interviews after the debates, including participation from local
Arizona TV stations, radio stations, newspapers, magazines, and
digital-only operations as well as visits from a French press
agency and the New York
Times.
"There is no doubt that these are the best non-partisan
candidate debates in the state, they were far-reaching and the
production caliber reached new levels. We look forward to
delivering the same experience for the general election," added
Gina Roberts, Clean Elections Voter
Education Director.
Just like the primary election, voters can submit questions for
the general election debates via email at
debates@azcleanelections.gov or by calling 602-364-3477 (toll-free
at 877-631-8891). Debate carriage and coverage requests should be
directed to Nate Kelly at the
Arizona Media Association at nate@azmedia.org.
Voters can find out when and where to tune into these
Arizona debates by visiting the
debate page on the Clean Elections website. Follow Clean Elections
on Facebook (@AZCleanElections) and Instagram (@AZCleanElections)
for the latest nonpartisan election information.
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SOURCE Citizens Clean Elections Commission