Fact checks were prevalent during and after the Biden-Trump debate — but not for real-time viewers
Those with an interest can find several exhaustive, independent fact checks of claims made by Joe Biden and Donald Trump during their televised debate on Thursday night
NEW YORK — There were some exhaustive, independent fact checks of claims made during the CNN debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Trouble was, none of them were available to the millions of people watching the two presidents in real time.
That was the result of CNN's decision ahead of Thursday's debate that moderators Dana Bash and Jake Tapper would be questioners, not arbiters. Supporters of President Biden were frustrated, since Trump was later flagged for more misleading statements than his rival, and it served to put greater emphasis on the Democrat's tepid performance.
At the same time, it emphasized a puzzle the media has yet to solve after nine years of Trump operating in the public arena as it relates to the presidency.
“I think that there is a very real question about whether it is possible to fact-check Donald Trump live on television,” said Jane Hall, author of “Politics and the Media: Intersections and New Directions” and an American University journalism professor. “He has confounded many different formats.”
An estimated 51.3 million people watched the unusual June debate, according to a preliminary estimate by the Nielsen company. The first time these candidates met onstage in 2020, there were 73 million viewers.
Bash and Tapper held firm to their intentions, which CNN stressed was its own call and not part of the debate rules negotiated with the campaign. The journalists avoided follow-ups, though they had to restate questions a number of times when candidates ignored them.
CNN's Daniel Dale offered a report in which he said Trump
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