A Journalistic Failure During the Presidential Debate
Our job, in the most fundamental sense, is to stand the hell up and say whether statements are true.
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The presidential debate, despite Biden's unfortunate, uninflected, mealy-mouthed tired-sounding delivery, was the perfect example of a failure of journalism. No one, aka the moderators, stepped in to call out Trump’s firehose of lies.
Yes, CNN made clear beforehand that Dana Bash and Jake Tapper were not there to fact-check, but consider that David Chalian, CNN’s political director, said, pre-debate: “Obviously, if there is some egregious fact that needs to be checked or the record needs to be made clear, Jake and Dana can do that."
At least 30 egregious lies, however, flew from Trump’s mouth at a speed that was nearly impossible to track in real time. Nearly, but not at all truly impossible.
Our job as journalists is not to say, simply, “It’s raining,” when we look out the window, as the adage goes. We’re not meteorologists. Our job, in the most fundamental sense, is to stand the hell up, walk outside, put our hands out to feel whether there are rain drops, and say whether the weather has turned — or not.
Anything less is an abdication of duty, a dereliction of our role as keepers of the First Amendment. Not doing so is a surrender of the sacred duties of the free press.
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The lack of fact checking was a distinct failure, but given that that was the agreement, I will give them a pass. What is most upsetting to me was the lack of pushback to ANSWER THE QUESTION THAT WAS ASKED!
Thanks, like the metaphor of a journalist walking outside and putting their hand out, to check if it is raining.