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However, local residents themselves will likely never see the footage of the live news show, broadcast on Al-Jazeera English from the upper room of Cooper's Seafood House in Scranton.
While the network is seen by an estimated 80 million people, it has almost no American viewers, but the fact the station chose Scranton as its locale to broadcast from on the night of the only vice presidential debate further supports how some pundits view the Electric City as a representative slice of the American Pie.
"Our goal is to make the international audience aware of what's going on here in America," producer Mariam Simpson, who flew in from Washington, D.C., on Monday to prepare for the show, explained afterward. The station has also broadcast from the Democratic and Republican national party conventions and is heading to Columbus, Ohio, next week for the second debate between Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain.
Ms. Simpson scoped out several locations before deciding on Cooper's, and made dozens of calls to find the right people to represent Scranton to the world.
She chose Maggie Marriotti, Tom Egan and Kathy Moran for the panel.
All three are Catholic and pro-life, but the two women support Mr. Obama while Mr. Egan supports Mr. McCain.
Perched on bar stools, backdropped by red and blue drapes duct-taped to the wall, with bright lights illuminating their faces and cameras trained on their every move, the panel fielded questions from host Mike Kirsch, who began the broadcast by telling the audience he'd just eaten "a huge working-class bowl of chowder."
He then asked the panelists to explain their stances, which seemed to echo statements being made across the nation.
Ms. Marriotti said she didn't think Gov. Sarah Palin was ready to step in to be president.
"I like her personally, I just don't see that Palin can step up to the plate," she said.
Mr. Egan said with both an African-American and a woman on the ticket, "you can't ask for any more change than that."
Ms. Moran, a mother of five who opposes abortion, thought the broadcast was "very interesting."
"I enjoyed letting the rest of the world know that Americans are open-minded and we are looking forward to change," she said. "It is coming and Barack Obama is the best hope we have."
Headquartered in Doha, Qatar, in the Middle East, Al-Jazeera English launched in 2006 as a spin-off of the Arabic-language channel Al-Jazeera. With broadcasting centers in Kuala Lumpur, London and Washington, D.C., the channel aims to "set the news agenda" and act as an alternative to more mainstream network news stations like Fox and CNN.
Contact the writer: ssolie@timesshamrock.com
To see more of The Times-Tribune or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/. Copyright (c) 2008, The Times-Tribune, Scranton, Pa. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
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