Should the presidential debate moderators hold candidates accountable?

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🗓️ 9 September 2024

⏱️ 13 minutes

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Summary

After days of back and forth, both presidential campaigns finally agreed on the rules for Tuesday night's debate. But what are the rules for moderators? Just ask questions? Fact check in real time? A Colorado newscaster went viral for his moderation style. He wishes more journalists would try it.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	That excitement in the air. It is not about the start of the NFL season.
0:09.8	Okay, well not only about that. In the world of politics, the event of the week
0:14.6	is the first presidential debate
0:16.8	between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.
0:19.7	It wasn't the debate either candidate expected months ago, but it's shaping up to be the most
0:24.4	anticipated event to date in the 2024 contest.
0:28.5	On Tuesday night, the former president and current vice president will face off in Philadelphia for perhaps the only time before
0:36.2	November's election and since Joe Biden's disastrous debate performance back in June upended the
0:42.4	race.
0:43.0	The candidate's microphones will be muted when it is not their turn to speak.
0:47.0	They will not be allowed to question each other and they will not be allowed to have any notes with them.
0:51.0	Those are the rules for the debaters.
0:54.4	But what about the rules for the moderators?
0:57.0	On paper, they're just asking the questions.
0:59.6	But many pundits, many viewers think
1:01.8	moderators should take a bigger role in wrangling
1:04.4	debaters especially a debater as volatile and prone to spreading falsehoods as
1:09.7	Trump.
1:10.7	That's what we're talking about.
1:11.7	All right that's the end of the segment we're talking about. All right, that's the end of the segment.
1:14.0	We're moving on.
1:14.9	It didn't take them.
	...

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