CBS News thinks that its anchors need not fact-check the candidates in real time during Tuesday’s vice-presidential debate. Like CNN before it, CBS figures that consigning the fact-checking to online and after debates is good enough.
It isn’t.
What the networks are saying is that it’s perfectly fine for a politician to flat-out lie and for that lie to go unchallenged or leaving it to the politician’s opponent to waste time correcting the record. What they’re saying is that they don’t want trouble from the liar’s camp, they want to appear unbiased by not getting involved. That, of course, is its own form of bias, possibly even more dangerous than open, blatant bias because it doesn’t announce itself, it just leaves an imbalance while purporting to be neutral.
Some of the greatest moments in journalism have come when reporters directly challenged politicians and didn’t just sit there and nod. CBS has always ranked among its finest moments the episode of “See It Now” when Edward R. Murrow went where others feared to tread and took on Sen. Joseph McCarthy and the “Red Scare.” In 2024, the same network is encountering the same situation, politicians who are spreading false accusations that pose a danger to the country, and instead of Murrow, we’ll have anchors just prompting the candidates and leaving the challenges to someone else. If they expect viewers to pop open their browsers to see the real-time fact-check in a widget on a webpage, or to wait until after the show’s over to see it on TV, they’re deluding themselves.
Lying is what politicians do, and immediately pointing out the lies should be what journalists do. If someone lies to your face in everyday life, and you KNOW it’s a lie, you are going to say something, right? You’re not going to just nod and leave it to someone else to point out the falsehood later, are you? In effect, that’s what CBS plans, and what CNN did, and it’s an abdication of responsibility.
This is a time when the news media must step up and not let anyone get away with lies, even if that will get trolls on social media upset. Even if it’s a simple “do you have proof of that?” the moderators should – need to – challenge the participants. If they don’t, they’re further contributing to the media’s failure to meet the moment, ‘sanewashing’ the insane.
By the way, real-time fact-checking isn’t just for debates. If you’re interviewing someone, anything they say that you KNOW to be false deserves an immediate response. Even if you fear a hostile reaction, it’s your job to know when you’re being lied to and to point it out when it happens.
Now, when Tuesday comes around, we might be pleasantly surprised. The moderators may go ahead and challenge the candidates, no matter what the network announced. Or they’ll just sit there and hold their tongues, because that’s what the bosses want.
Perry Michael Simon is a weekly news media columnist for Barrett Media. He previously served as VP and Editor/News-Talk-Sports/Podcast for AllAccess.com. Prior to joining the industry trade publication, Perry spent years in radio working as a Program Director and Operations Manager for KLSX and KLYY in Los Angeles and New Jersey 101.5 in Trenton. He can be found on X (formerly Twitter) @PMSimon.
