Spin room
Area where press speaks with debate participants
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Through Debate and COVID-19 pandemic
History
The earliest recorded spin room was set up by the Reagan Campaign in 1984. In a hotel banquet room, campaign officials spoke on the record with talking points playing up their own candidate's debate performance and minimizing opponent Walter Mondale's success, despite many observers believing Mondale had won. This operation was dubbed the "spin patrol."
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Operation
A spin room may also be active before a debate. A common form of pre-debate spin is for each side to try to raise expectations for the opposing debater and lower expectations for their own team, a pursuit known as playing the "expectations game".
During the 2020 U.S. general election debates, in order to reduce person-to-person viral contagion during the COVID-19 pandemic, the physical spin room was entirely supplanted by digital campaign operations and remote interviews with media surrogates while reporters watched the debate from home.
Criticism
Some observers have criticized the overt nature of the media manipulation in spin rooms, and the media's willing participation in it. Defenders have said reporters know it's scripted and aren't persuaded by the spin, but rather, they use the talking points to analyze candidates' strategies. Spin rooms can occasionally include moments of candor, such as when presidential candidate Rick Perry admitted that he had "stepped in it" during a debate response that became known as his "oops" moment.
Spin rooms have also been portrayed as outdated in an era of instant online reaction from all quarters before a debate is even over. Focus groups and instant post-debate "snap polls" attempt to provide a more scientific method than spin rooms in determining who has won a debate.