Vice presidential candidates JD Vance and Tim Walz are set to debate this Tuesday. Ahead of the Oct. 1 event, the broadcaster announced that moderators Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan will not fact-check either candidate — Walz and Vance will be responsible for fact-checking one another. The news prompted political scientist Norman Ornstein to lament that though CBS was once “the gold standard for television news,” both “those days and their standards are long gone.”
Ornstein isn’t the only voice objecting to CBS’ announcement, with the condemnation of their choice widespread on social media after CNN previously declined to fact-check candidates during the debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump earlier this year, followed by ABC opting to include brief fact-checks from moderators in the presidential debate between Trump and Kamala Harris.
According to CBS News’ editorial standards, the moderators are there to facilitate the conversation/debate between the candidates, as well as enforce the debate’s rules. However, they leave the responsibility to the candidates when it comes to fact-checking as part of the broadcast. CBS does plan to offer its own form of live fact-checking — but it will be online, rather than directly from the moderators, via its CBS News Confirmed Unit journalists in an online blog.
At this point, refusing to fact-check a debate is just a tacit admission that you want to help the GOP. After all, JD Vance is on record saying he has no problem lying and making up things if he thinks it’s politically advantageous. Tim Walz shouldn’t have to cut into his time correcting the lies of an established liar. Why have journalists involved at all? Seems like it’d be cheaper to hire some bozo off the street to read the questions and only enforce time limits on the Democrat. You don’t need Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan to accomplish that.
Tim has come out guns blazing. I’d let him go head to head against Vance with no fact checks. I just wish they’d get rid of the moderators, though, if they aren’t going to moderate.
Just put a jar between them and they can pull a card if the discussion dies down.
JD would just end up putting the jar between some couch cushions…
Vance would just act like it was a filibuster and rant about nonsense and yell lies for an hour not allowing Tim to be heard, and call it a “power move.”. Idiots would think it showed he was strong, while ignoring the craziness of it all.
I feel like Walz will be able to call Vance on whatever bullshit he’s peddling… but not having a neutral fact checker is a terrible idea.
And also Walz doesn’t need to be wasting all of his allotted time fact checking an admitted liar. Not a ton of actual “News” in this article, but several of the referenced comments were funny/made good points like that.
Time concerns aside, this will just make GOP say “they have their own idea of truth”. Which is correct but the causality is vice versa.
Unless you are a partisan organization and want Trump to win.
Any attempt at fact checking will not be neutral. You can fact check obvious hyperbole, you can fact check because of slight misinterpretations, you can decide NOT to fact check. As soon as you decide to do it, you open the door for bias or accusations of bias.
Reality isn’t neutral, facts are objective. If there’s something that different stances on and both be personally correct then it’s an opinion.
Yes facts are objective, but when you decide to fact check or not fact check is completely subjective. Fact checking statements out of context can be misleading in themselves, and fact checking statements that were misinterpreted by the fact checkers is also influenced by bias.
CBS does plan to offer its own form of live fact-checking — but it will be online, rather than directly from the moderators, via its CBS News Confirmed Unit journalists in an online blog.
So the attention of the viewer is divided or they don’t even know that there is an online live fact check.
Sounds more than fishy
I vote for big true/false gauge behind them both. The needle swings as the speaker speaks. Maybe a flashing red light for insane lies and green for absolute truth.
But they would need real fact checkers voting on the truthfulness in real time to make it work.
Maybe their mic should get quieter each time they lie lol
