CBS News says it’s up to Harris and Walz to cross-examine each other in a full debate

NEW YORK – CBS News, which hosts vice presidential candidates JD Vance and Tim Walz next week for the third campaign debate, says it’s up to politicians – not moderators – to fact-check their opponents.

The 90-minute debate, taking place Tuesday at 9 p.m. Eastern time in a Manhattan studio that once housed the children’s show “Captain Kangaroo,” will feature outgoing “CBS Evening News” anchor Norah O’Donnell and “Face the Nation” moderated. Hosted by Margaret Brennan.

During the ABC debate between presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump earlier this month, network moderators pointed out inaccurate statements from Trump four times, but none from Harris. That infuriated the former president and his supporters, who complained it was unfair.

Last spring, CNN anchors did not question the facts presented by Trump and President Joe Biden in the debate, in which Biden’s poor performance ultimately led to him dropping out of the race.

On Friday, CBS will have Vance and Walz’s responsibility to point out each other’s misstatements and that “the moderators will facilitate these opportunities during rebuttal time.” The network said its dedicated misinformation unit, CBS News Confirmed, will conduct real-time fact-checking on its live blog and social media during the debate and will be on-air during post-debate analysis.

CBS News is making it clear with its plans that it wants to avoid the excitement of drawing attention to misleading statements from candidates. Some argue that offstage fact-checking is too little, too late and invisible to many of the event’s audience members.

Angie Drodnic Holan, director of the international fact-checking network at the Poynter Institute, said she has seen examples of moderators successfully encouraging candidates to keep their opponents honest.

“I’ll be interested to see how this works in practice,” she said. “Still, you’re essentially shifting one of your journalistic responsibilities onto the candidates themselves, so I don’t think that’s ideal. It takes journalistic courage to be willing to fact-check the candidates, because the candidates are.” I will definitely complain about this. I don’t think the moderators’ first goal is to avoid controversy.”

During the ABC debate, moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis corrected Trump’s statements on abortion, the 2020 election, crime statistics and reports that immigrants in Ohio were eating pets.

Unlike the two presidential debates, the two sides agreed that the vice presidential candidates’ microphones would not be turned off while their opponent spoke, increasing the chance of a real exchange and increasing the risk that the two men would talk to each other. CBS says it reserves the right to turn off a “hot mic” if necessary. Each candidate has two minutes to make a closing statement, with Vance winning a virtual coin toss and electing to have the final word.

It’s a big moment for CBS News, which has long ranked third in the evening news ratings. O’Donnell just announced she was stepping down from the role. Brennan is considered a rising star.

As with the presidential debates, CBS is making its feed available to other networks to broadcast on television, and many are expected to take advantage of the opportunity.

There will be no audience when Vance and Walz meet in a West Side studio that has previously hosted editions of “60 Minutes,” “CBS Sunday Morning,” “Inside the NFL,” “Geraldo” and “Captain Kangaroo.” “were to be seen. ”

It is unknown whether there will be further opportunities to see Trump and Harris on the same stage together before the November 5 election. Harris accepted an invitation from CNN to another debate on October 23, but Trump declined it. In a Quinnipiac University poll released earlier this week, likely voters said they would like to see a rematch by a margin of about two to one.

CBS’ “60 Minutes” wants to land both Harris and Trump for back-to-back interviews that will air Oct. 7, but neither candidate has committed to it yet.

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David Bauder writes about media for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder.