Tech Glitch Marred First Night Of Dem Debate

NBC News’ coverage of the first Democratic debate of the 2020 campaign season Wednesday was marred by a technical glitch that led President Donald Trump to tweet that the network “should be ashamed.”

According to The Associated Press, the snafu, in the middle of the debate, left viewers and candidates confused by crosstalk apparently caused by a failure to turn off the microphones of NBC personalities who had left the stage.

Otherwise, NBC ran a substantive, fast-moving debate that occasionally veered off course, primarily due to 10 candidates eager to make the most of limited time. Ten more Democratic candidates will take to a Miami stage Thursday for a second session, also televised on NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo.

NBC’s technical problem came following a halftime switch from Lester Holt, Savannah Guthrie and Jose Diaz-Balart — who were the primary questioners in the first hour — to Chuck Todd and Rachel Maddow. Todd was interrupted by voices as he tried to direct a gun control question to Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

It caused a brief, uncomfortable period of confusion before Todd switched to a lengthy, unplanned commercial break.

“We prepared for everything,” Maddow said. “We did not prepare for this.”

Following the break, the issue was corrected. But it gave Trump, who had earlier critiqued the debate as “boring,” an opening to attack one of his favorite targets, the news media.



NBC and MSNBC “should be ashamed of themselves for having such a horrible technical breakdown in the middle of the debate.” He called it “truly unprofessional.”

NBC did not have an immediate response to the president.