Many Americans felt dismayed that the first 2020 presidential debate at times devolved into a mudslinging contest. Most of the blame has been thrown at President Donald Trump, but a more careful analysis shows that the moderator, Chris Wallace, caused the chaos. With proper moderation, it could have been far more orderly and informative for the American voters.
The moderator’s job is to highlight the political platforms of the candidates. What do they offer the American people? What will they do as president? By being forward-looking and policy-oriented, the moderator enables each candidate to present a positive vision of what they would like to achieve. These goals may be unrealistic or based on lies, but it should be the candidates’ responsibility to expose the flaws in the other’s positions and claims, not the moderator. It works best when the candidates are assigned time slots for questions and responses.
The more mechanical this process is, the better behaved the candidates will be. For instance, in the question segment, the candidates may be given one minute to respond to a claim. The candidate should then see a clock counting down and be signaled when 15 seconds remain. It’s a technique that solves the issues of interruption. It works with kids in kindergarten, and amazingly, it works with politicians too.
...a good moderator will be like a good waiter...The moderator is not there to influence the election’s outcome but to direct the flow of information for voters to make an educated decision. Ideally, a good moderator will be like a good waiter at a restaurant. If he does his job correctly, you are being served without even noticing his presence.
#1: No Audience Laugh Track
Many presidential debates have allowed for a studio audience to give audible feedback to the candidates: applause, cheering, laughter, and booing. It unconsciously assigns opinions to the viewer. In the early days of television, sitcoms had laugh tracks to tell the viewers at home when to laugh and what to consider funny. While this is fine for entertainment, it is inappropriate for political debate because the format then skews the outcome. Chris Wallace instructed the audience not to cheer or applaud during the debate, which was about the only thing he got right.#2: Focus on Policies
The moderator’s job is to highlight the political platforms of the candidates. What do they offer the American people? What will they do as president? By being forward-looking and policy-oriented, the moderator enables each candidate to present a positive vision of what they would like to achieve. These goals may be unrealistic or based on lies, but it should be the candidates’ responsibility to expose the flaws in the other’s positions and claims, not the moderator. It works best when the candidates are assigned time slots for questions and responses.
The more mechanical this process is, the better behaved the candidates will be. For instance, in the question segment, the candidates may be given one minute to respond to a claim. The candidate should then see a clock counting down and be signaled when 15 seconds remain. It’s a technique that solves the issues of interruption. It works with kids in kindergarten, and amazingly, it works with politicians too.




-1.png&w=1920&q=75)




