Do We Need Moderate Moderators?
Now that we are almost a week from the last presidential debate, the haunting eyes of Jim Leher are still burnt into my mind. Jim Leher, the former PBS NewsHour anchorman, attempted to lead a civil political debate last Wednesday. The chosen moderator of the first presidential debate between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama quickly lost control of the feisty candidates. Audience members could not help but feel terribly for Leher as the candidates continuously interrupted and talked over him. Leher's strict time constraints for responses would have allowed all the debate's intended content to be covered. However, with the interruptions and elongated rebuttals much of Leher's questions were never posed.
This debate was not Leher's first time in the presidential boxing ring. In fact, last week's debate was Leher's twelfth debate as moderator. Don't expect to be seeing him caught in the middle anymore though. Critics were not impressed by Leher's performance and even named him the ultimate loser of the debate. This article showcases some of the negative tweets Leher received during the debate as well. Since the traumatic experience, Leher has made public statements rationalizing his performance. He defends his moderating style in this article by claiming his role was to let the politicians play and stay out of the way just as a baseball umpire would do.
In class and on this blog, we have discussed the celebrity status of politicians. Some Americans have posed the question of why celebrities are not used in the debate arena. Specifically, it has been suggested that celebrities would expand the viewing audience of a political debate and be stronger personalities to lead and control a presidential debate. Petitions are currently being passed around to hopefully inspire the Commission on Presidential Debates to select a celebrity for the role of moderator.
Judge Judy, known for her harshness in the television courtroom, and Jon Stewart, popular comedian, have been suggested for the role. Read here for more information on the petitions to have these two test the moderating waters. Do you think either of these celebrities would do a better job than Jim Leher?
This article goes on to mention the impact at least one of these circulating petitions have made. Three teenage girls began a campaign to have female moderators take the desk once again. The last time a female moderator ruled the floor was in 1992. Although the Commission won't admit these girls' online petition made a difference in the moderator decisions of 2012, you will be seeing a female moderating the vice presidential debate as well as the next presidential debate. If three girls can get the moderators they want, who is to say the American people cannot have the celebrity moderators they want?
posted by gina althoff | 6:56 AM
6 Comments:
Great topic, Gina. The moderators usually receive little attention, despite being able to influence significantly how debates are perceived. This year, the moderators have been the center of much discussion, so your post is particularly timely. It was interesting to read Lehrer's defense of his approach in light of all of the criticism it received. What *should* the role of the debate moderator be?
Great post gina! Interesting that it took ten years for another woman to take the stage as a moderator. I would love to see Jon Stewart as a moderator, but he certainly would be far from objective. Now that the debates are over, I definitely think poor Jim had the hardest debate to moderate and that he did a good job with all things considered :)
Throughout all of the debates we have seen, I have been immensely annoyed at how they present questions, the questions they ask, and mostly by the way they treat each of the candidates. I realize this post is about a Presidential debate, however, I would like to point out Martha Raddatz in the Vice Presidential debate. She annoyed me the most because of her impatience and the way she interrupted the candidates' responses. I understand that these things do happen, but it was clear that Raddatz favored one candidate over the other. I definitely believe that we need "moderate moderators!"
I definitely believe moderate moderators are essential, even if I did love that Candy corrected Mitt Romney. In many ways, I wish the moderator could challenge more. But to be fair, they should really challenge both. Lehrer was definitely seen as too timid. Moderate or not, the moderator should have more control than what he exhibited that night. Not to be too harsh on him - I believe that the candidates went over their allotted times in the other debates. Either way, the moderate moderator is the way to go, because we definitely saw the backlash Candy got for interfering in the debate like she did.
I think it is important for the moderators to not have strong political views but however that is difficult to find, especially today. I think it would be interesting to have a celebrity be the moderator but my only concern would be if that would make the whole debate into more of an entertainment event and take away from the seriousness of the event. Possibly make it a joke and the candidates less likely to agree to the debate. I also found it very interesting that there are rarely female moderators. I think that could change the climate of the debate. Depending on who the female is the debate could go in a very different direction than when there are male moderators. It would be interesting to compare the two types of moderators.
The neutrality of the moderator, I believe, is very important in running the debates smoothly and fairly. I feel that it usually is evident when a moderator favors one side over another, such as asking one candidate more incriminating questions or letting a candidate have more speaking time. More attention should be paid to getting more fair moderators.
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