Fox News’ Presidential Debate Moderator Says He’ll Let Candidates Lie

[workinclasszero]

Fox News’ Presidential Debate Moderator Says He’ll Let Candidates Lie
Anything goes.
Judd LegumFollow Editor-In-Chief, ThinkProgress

For the first time, Fox News has been selected to moderate a presidential debate.

The Presidential Debate Commission selected Chris Wallace, host of Fox News Sunday, to moderate the third presidential debate, scheduled for October 19 in Las Vegas.

Wallace appeared on Fox News’ Media Buzz to discuss what his selection meant to him personally and “what it means to Fox News.”
The host of the program, Howard Kurtz, asked Wallace, “What do you do if they make assertions that you know to be untrue?”

“That’s not my job,” Wallace replied, without skipping a beat. “It’s not my job to be a truth squad.”

https://thinkprogress.org/fox-news-presidential-debate-moderator-says-he-ll-let-candidates-lie-54b04cd3272a#.krbc1ouzn

[liberal N proud]

1. That statement invalidates the debate!

[enough]

2. At the very least there needs to be a statement to that effect running across the screen

throughout the debate.

[KewlKat]

3. they need a new moderator

[workinclasszero]

4. Trump with get up on his hind legs and lie his ass off!

Lie after lie after lie.

And the Fox news moderator will smile and say Mrs Clinton what is your response to these serious charges????

[vlyons]

5. Surprise surprise

OK everyone put on your surprise face

[sarae]

6. Um...

What are the debates for - how good the candidate is at bullshitting us?

[RAFisher]

7. His response seems to be a cop-out. What happens after Clinton calls out a Trump lie?

Trumps says he never filed for bankruptcy. Clinton calls out the lie. Trump then says Clinton is a lair.

In this scenario, what would happen next? Wallace will not say anything? Next question? I assume the whole debate would going with each just calling the other a lair. Sounds like a mess.

[Buzz Clik]

8. Wow. Not exactly a change in tactic from Fox News.

[mindfulNJ]

9. Actually Mr. Wallace

it IS your job.

[Rose Siding]

10. Considering the caliber of Trump supporters I've seen, the mod might not be the issue

Will his mob let HRC speak at all? This problem could be most prominent in a Fox crowd.

[procon]

11. Another grad from the same journalism school Chuck Todd attended.

Remember when Chuck Todd made the shocking statement that pursuing of the truth and pointing out Republican lies isn't his job?

It's not his job to report current events, explain them clearly and factually, and stop the spread of misinformation... you know, work. Real journalism is dead because of people like Chuck Todd and his fellow faux journalist, Chris Wallace,who think that facts no longer matter. This is the perfect example of why Democrats can’t expect to win policy debates with just facts. The truth does not matter to a news media isn't interested in straight, hardcore news, they just need a steady stream of juicy stories to sell -- true or not -- and fill up airtime in a 24/7 broadcast schedule.

I'm old enough to remember when journalists and news reporters served a vital role as the Free Press, champion of the people, the Fourth Estate made politicians tremble and the corporate princes and the barons of industry feared being called to account by a scathing news story that ripped off the masquerade in revealing investigations.

Now we have self serving celebrity media personalities, timid milquetoasts and kowtowing sycophants, who only want to do light and fluffy interviews of top tier guests to boost their ratings in order to plump up their next contract negotiation.

[martin mike]

12. why should modding a debate be any different from his FOX job?

where he not only doesn't challange lies, he TELLS them!

[NCTraveler]

13. It's not his job.

It's Clintons job.

[Sunlei]

14. should have hosted debate at one of our colleges instead of supermarket republican tabloid fox

[bullimiami]

15. If you're a reporter you're ONLY job is to be the truth squad. Otherwise you are a commentator.

And a commentator has no business moderating the debate.

[oberliner]

16. Should Wallace interrupt HRC every time he thinks she is lying?

That doesn't seem like a great idea.

[Botany]

17. Wallace works @ Fox and they lie as a matter of business

So why should Wallace sare about lying now.

Statements made on FOX

Click on the ruling to see all of the statements made on FOX.

True17 (10%)(17)
Mostly True20 (12%)(20)
Half True31 (19%)(31)
Mostly False34 (21%)(34)
False48 (29%)(48)
Pants on Fire15 (9%)

78% of the time Fox lies.

http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/tv/fox/

[eppur_se_muova]

18. Not much choice -- there's not enough time to retrain him before the debate.

His whole career has been built on a disinclination to question lies, no matter how big or blatant.

[lark]

19. Nothing new here.

Faux snooze has always promoted lies over truth, why should this be different. HRC should bail from this one since it sets up perfectly for the lie every second drumpf.