The long-running television reality show, known as the Republican debates, has reached a point of absurdity with the recent announcement that Donald Trump will moderate a December 27 episode in Iowa.

Many of the remaining candidate have expressed plans to skip this one, but current frontrunner Newt Gingrich will be there.   It will be interesting and perhaps somewhat distressing to see discover how many voters tune in anyway.

In recent months, the GOP debate series has taken on all the qualities of a reality show.  Candidates declare positions without effort to remain on topic or fear of followup questions.  They duck and dodge, take potshots at one another and compete to determine who hates Barack Obama with the greatest passion.

Viewers watch to witness the minor dustups between candidates and the trivial posturing that substitutes for statesmanship.  And they evaluate what they hear and see with the same criteria applied to a nighttime soap opera.  Will Rick Perry step on his tongue again?  Can Gingrich overcome his serial marriage problem? Will Michele Bachman embarrass herself again with another misstatement of American history?  Will Mitt Romney overcome his apparent case of schizophrenia?

Now, the final indignity with the selection of Trump as moderator of a debate scheduled just days ahead of the Iowa caucuses.  Long ago, a journalism professor of mine warned us of the danger of “infotainment,” the practice of confusing real news with public amusement.  The downward spiral of this year’s GOP debates demonstrates the prescience of this admonition.

Perhaps this extreme exercise in bad judgment will return some sense to the campaign season and re-introduce some seriousness to political discourse.  Then again, perhaps the importance of real substance has been lost in today’s perplexing media environment.

The lesson for all serious communicators should be to avoid confusing entertainment with relevance.

By David Stiefel