With Audiences Encouraged to React, Primary Debates Seem More Made for TV

As the debates have taken on an outsize significance in this Republican primary, attention has shifted to whether the news media, in their desire for a television moment, are creating too raucous an atmosphere. Over the course of the campaign, candidates have risen (Newt Gingrich) and fallen (Gov. Rick Perry) based on their debate performances. But the audience’s response has become as much a part of the calculation as the jabbing and parrying on the stage. The cheering, the booing and, perhaps worse, the silence affect the perception of how the candidates fared.