In the recent vice presidential debate, political pundits criticized CBS News anchors Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan for their perceived biased moderating. Former President Donald Trump even took to Truth Social, stating that Brennan “lied again about the ILLEGAL MIGRANTS let into our Country by Lyin’ Kamala Harris.” He also accused her of cutting off Senator JD Vance’s (R-OH) microphone in an attempt to stop him from correcting her.
The issue lies in the anchors appearing to consistently show bias against Republican Vice Presidential nominee, Senator JD Vance by fact-checking him, cutting off his mic and framing their questions unfairly. This was not a consistent practice for Democratic vice presidential nominee Governor Tim Walz (D), suggesting that there may have been some level of favoritism displayed during the debate.
It is worth mentioning that this perceived bias does not come as a surprise, as CBS News had previously shown a clear preference for the Harris-Walz ticket. From July 21 to September 27, the Media Research Center found that CBS News gave the Democratic ticket 85 percent positive coverage while giving the Republican ticket only 81 percent negative coverage.
Many users on social media platform X have expressed their disapproval of the moderators’ performance during the debate, with some even suggesting that their bias was worse than what was seen in the ABC News presidential debate, where some Democrats admitted to having a favorable inclination towards Vice President Kamala Harris.
Overall, it is clear that there are concerns about the fairness and impartiality of the moderating during the vice presidential debate, which has led to criticism from both political pundits and social media users alike. The perceived biases displayed by the anchors may have undermined the integrity of the event, leaving some viewers feeling unsatisfied with the quality of the discourse between the two Vice Presidential nominees.