The Challenges of Fact-Checking in Political Debates
CBS News briefly cut off the microphones of vice presidential candidates JD Vance and Tim Walz during an exchange in their debate Tuesday when the Republican objected to an attempt by moderator Margaret Brennan to correct something he said about immigration. It was one of the evening’s more contentious moments and reminded viewers again of the difficulty that the news outlets organizing debates this political season are facing in trying to point out in real-time statements that are misleading or untrue.
After Vance had talked about illegal immigrants overwhelming some American cities like Springfield, Ohio, Brennan interjected that the Haitians that had moved to that city were there legally. “Since you’re fact-checking me, it’s important to say what is actually going on,” Vance said. After briefly letting Vance speak, Brennan interrupted him and said it was time to move on to other issues. They spoke over each other, until CBS News muted the microphones of both Vance and Walz, who were appearing at a studio in New York City. “Gentlemen, the audience can’t hear you because your mics are cut,” Brennan said.
Prior to the debate, CBS News had said it would be up to the two candidates — not moderators Brennan and Norah O’Donnell — to fact-check each other and the journalists would encourage them to do so. Vance said that it appeared CBS News was breaking the rules it had set down.
Fact-checking was an issue during last month’s debate between presidential contenders Donald Trump and Kamala Harris after moderators corrected Trump at least four times, angering the former president and his supporters. When Trump debated President Joe Biden last spring, CNN moderators did not attempt any on-air corrections.
In an echo of what followed the ABC debate, Trump posted on his Truth Social site during Tuesday’s debate that “both young ladies have been extremely biased Anchors!”
At another point Tuesday, wrapping up a discussion about climate change, O’Donnell said it was the overwhelming consensus of scientists that the planet was warming. Earlier, she had asked Vance whether or not he agreed with his running mate’s comment that climate change was a hoax.
There were points at which the moderators sought to encourage the candidates to police each other. During a discussion about whether illegal migration was driving up housing costs, Brennan said to Walz, “I do want to let you respond to the allegation that the vice president is letting in migrants.”
Yet it was a discussion about abortion that most illustrated the difficulties of that approach, and how there is no easy way during a live debate to make sure viewers are getting accurate information. Vance cited a provision in a Minnesota law, where Walz is governor. “As I read Minnesota law, it says that a doctor that presides over an abortion where the baby survives, the doctor is under no obligation to provide life-saving care,” Vance said. Vance called that “fundamentally barbaric,” while Walz said his opponent’s interpretation of the law was untrue.
What did the law actually say? That was unclear, and viewers were left to decide which candidate they wanted to believe. The CBS moderators cut to a commercial, unable or unwilling to clarify the question.
Throughout the debate, CBS News ran on its screen a message that viewers could log onto its “CBS News Confirmed” website to read about claims in the debate that were untrue or misleading. At some points, the network even showed a code that enabled viewers to instantly call up the information on their mobile phones. Yet those entreaties were not shown on the screens of other networks that simulcast the debate, which was produced by CBS.
The debate may have represented the last chance for viewers to see representatives of the two presidential campaigns duke it out on screen. Harris has called for a second debate between her and Trump, but the Republican candidate has not accepted the challenge.
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