Should Debate Moderators Be Fact-Checkers or Facilitators?
Should Debate Moderators Be Fact-Checkers or Facilitators?
Tonight’s presidential debate will draw a record number of viewers who will focus attention on the moderation team just as much as it will on the candidates. The team, Anderson Cooper of CNN, Lester Holt of NBC, Martha Raddatz of ABC and Chris Wallace of Fox News, must choose whether to expose falsehoods or to let the candidates say what they will without the accuracy of their comments being called into question.
This year’s campaign has produced an unprecedented need for fact-checking by journalists, and for the most part they have been up to the task. But is it also the task of the presidential debate moderators to correct either candidate when they make an obviously false statement? I think not.
Moderators of online communities facilitate respectful interaction and enforce the posted rules and guidelines set up by the site owner. Those who break the rules are warned and those with multiple violations are penalized. That type of conduct is what should be moderated at the debates.
It would be great if the candidates told the truth, but the fact-checkers will let us know how they did on Tuesday morning. I’m content to wait until that time.
