Debate Moderator Bias

“Bias”
Image courtesy of http://www.aemenergia.it/home/cms/aem/comunicazione/archivio_aem/eventi/anno_2006/.

No Quarter’s Thursday Debate Rigged with Biased Moderator brings up the issue of neutrality.  Ms. Gwen Ifill has been selected as the moderator for the Vice Presidential debate on Thursday October 2, 2008.  Ifill, the host of PBS’ “Washington Week” and senior correspondent on “The NewsHour,” would seem to be a worthy moderator.  One would presume the selection of the debate moderator would be to find someone who can effectively moderate the debate in a nonpartisan and impartial manner.  But how impartial can Ms. Gwen Ifill be when she has written a pro-Obama book entitled,  “The book entitled, Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama,” is pending release on inauguration day?

The Commission on Presidential Debates

Its primary purpose is to sponsor and produce debates for the United States presidential and vice presidential candidates and to undertake research and educational activities relating to the debates. The organization, which is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) corporation, sponsored all the presidential debates in 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004.

No Quarter brought up some excellent points.

In the understatement of the day, Juan Williams of NPR and FOX News said:

“Clearly her books aren’t going to do as well unless Obama wins, so it looks like she has some investment, literally, in one candidate or the other. And she’s supposed to be sitting there as a neutral arbiter during the debate,” said NPR’s Juan Williams, a FOX News contributor. “I think the world of Gwen Ifill but I know there’s a perception problem.”–FOX News.

This is a mockery of the necessary impartiality of debate hosts.

Earlier today, I asked if the debate commission and both parties know about Ifill’s pro-Obama book and if she disclosed it to them. NPR’s Mara Liasson, who spoke with Fox News’s Brit Hume this evening, noted that Gwen Ifill has stated that she did not tell the Commission on Presidential Debates about her book. The Commission has not made any comment on the matter.

Hot Air’s Ifill: I never told the Commission about the book, further reveals Ifill’s not so forthcoming admission about her writings.

This isn’t the most egregious foul committed in this campaign, but it’s an embarrassment for the CPD.  With a financial stake in the election’s outcome, Ifill shouldn’t even be conducting interviews of the candidates, let alone moderating a debate.

Michelle Malkin’s A debate “moderator” in the tank for Obama; Update: McCain campaign didn’t know about book; PBS and McCain shrug; Update: Ifill plays the race card, notes Ifill’s Obama support with examples of her fawning over Michelle Obama at the DNC convention, yet disdainful and dismissive behavior during Governor Sarah Palin’s speech at the GOP convention.  Not to mention her comments about her book already being perceived as being favorable to Obama because she is Black.

The American Thinker’s Gwen Ifill and the Vice Presidential Debate (updated) notes,

Gwen Ifill has compromised herself and her employer, the publicly-funded PBS by failing to disclose an obvious conflict of interest. The degree of media bias for the Obama campaign becomes all the more obvious. She has a clear financial interest in the outcome of the presidential election, through her authorship of a book on Obama to be published Inauguration Day.

Turns out John McCain per Fox News says,

“I think that Gwen Ifill is a professional and I think that she will do a totally objective job because she is a highly respected professional,” McCain said during an interview at the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum. “Does this help…if she has written a book that’s favorable to Senator Obama? Probably not. But I have confidence that Gwen Ifill will do a professional job and I have that confidence.”

Let us hope that this indeed is the case.  Ifill’s reputation is on the line to remain an impartial referee and to carry out a dignified and neutral moderation at the debate.

One way of getting rid of the perception of bias, is if Ifill does the professional thing and discloses her potential conflict of interest prior to starting the debate.  Other professionals must file disclosure in their fields before presentations or carrying on potential business.  What a better way to keep things her and the debate in check, while telling the audience, so that all continue to respect the debate commission and their proposed mission of nonpartisanship neutrality.

“Full Disclosure Project”
Image courtesy of http://www.panacea-bocaf.org/disclosureproject.htm.

See:

• http://noquarterusa.net/blog/2008/10/01/thursday-debate-rigged-with-biased-moderator/
• http://www.debates.org/pages/news_091708.html
• http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/01/vp-debate-moderator-pens-pro-obama-book/
• http://hotair.com/archives/2008/10/01/ifill-i-never-told-the-commission-about-the-book/
• http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2008/10/gwen_ifill_and_the_vice_presid.html
• http://embeds.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/10/01/mccain-i-have-confidence-in-ifill/