LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - U.S. television networks refused to play by rules restricting camera angles and reaction shots during the presidential debate and that may have given a boost to John Kerry, analysts said on Friday.
In passing judgment on Thursday night's match-up, numerous commentators said President Bush came across as "annoyed," "exasperated" and generally less presidential than Kerry in many of the side-by-side shots of him reacting to the remarks of his foe.
Indeed, Kerry supporters were so pleased with the results that the Democratic National Committee on Friday released a video of footage from the debate, titled "Faces of Frustration," highlighting examples of what they saw as Bush's "peeved reactions."
"Cutaway" shots showing either Bush or Kerry while they waited their turn to speak were expressly forbidden in a 32-page agreement negotiated by the two campaigns to govern conduct of the event.
But from the start of the 90-minute telecast seen by at least 62.5 million Americans, the networks defied the rules by making ample use of split-screen shots allowing viewers to see the two candidates side by side as one was talking and the other was listening.
Under a rotation system established by the major networks for covering political events, Fox News Channel operated the "pool" cameras that supplied the broadcast feed for all the networks on Thursday.
Fox News executive producer Marty Ryan said the cable network tended to use a split screen when the content debate became especially pointed.
"We weren't looking for somebody taking a drink of water or adjusting their coat," Ryan said. "We looked for occasions when they specifically referred to the other, especially when the criticism in both directions was a little more harsh. That's when you want to see the reaction of the other candidate."
The effect was noted by many observers offering their post-debate analysis.
Fox News anchor Brit Hume said Bush "looked annoyed." And Ron Brownstein of the Los Angeles Times wrote: "At one point, Bush even apparently sighed in frustration, a distant echo of the behavior that hurt Vice President Al Gore in his first debate against Bush in 2000."
Tom Shales of the Washington Post added that despite efforts to even out the heights of the two men through camera angles, Kerry appeared "tall and statesmanlike" compared to Bush, who seemed "shorter" and "ill at ease" in the split screens.
The political leanings of TV viewers also colored their perception of how the debate was presented.
Moderator Jim Lehrer of PBS received high marks for fairness from 80 percent of both Bush and Kerry supporters taking part in an online poll of 2,800 viewers conducted by the media reform group MediaChannel.org.
But respondents differed along party lines when asked whether sufficient time was devoted to discussion of the war in Iraq. While a majority of Kerry backers, 67 percent, believed the debate's emphasis on Iraq was "just right," only 45 percent of Bush supporters agreed. And 42 percent of Bush supporters called it "too much."