Yahoo News CNN Pushes Back on Fact-Checking Criticism From Debate: “Up to the Candidates”
CNN is pushing back after critics blamed the channel for its handling of last night’s debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.
The critics, most of them Democrats, took aim at CNN and moderators Dana Bash and Jake Tapper, with the absence of real-time fact checking one of the major issues.
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A spokesperson for CNN responded to the criticism:
“The role of the moderators is to present the candidates with questions that are important to American voters and to facilitate a debate, enabling candidates to make their case and challenge their opponent,” the spokesperson said. “It is up to the candidates to challenge one another in a debate. CNN offered robust fact checking coverage in post-debate analysis on TV and across our digital platforms during and following the debate’s conclusion.”
CNN, it should be noted, did do quite a bit of fact checking in its post-debate coverage, with Trump being called out substantially more than Biden. The angst from critics is almost certainly connected to the perceived performance of Biden.
And despite the criticism from some political circles, Tapper and Bash received substantial praise in the immediate aftermath of the debate from both sides of the political spectrum.
“In fairness to fake news CNN, Fake Jake and Fake Dana, they put aside their prejudice and their hatred towards Donald Trump for the night and they actually asked questions and waited for answers, and I thought they managed the debate fairly well, something I didn’t expect,” Fox News host Sean Hannity said after the debate.
“Jake Tapper and Dana Bash are both excellent and unflappable journalists and good people,” MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow said. “They will, of course, be under nuclear hot scrutiny tonight, as any moderator is in a high-stakes debate like this.”
Pollster Frank Luntz, who runs a focus group of undecided voters during debates, said that the voters heaped praise on Tapper and Bash, appreciating the questions, and adding that there were no “accusations of bias.”
To be sure, moderating a presidential debate has become something of a thankless job, particularly in the Trump political era (this is now the third presidential cycle in which he was one of the candidates). But the unusual format, with no live audience and the cut off mics, made for a debate unlike anything viewers have seen for decades.
For better, or for worse.
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