Vice Presidential Debate Won’t Be Fact-Checked by Moderators, CBS Says

CBS News says its moderators won’t provide fact-checking on air as Senator JD Vance and Governor Tim Walz face off at the Vice Presidential Debate on Tuesday, October 1.

The news bureau announced the decision on Friday, September 27, asserting that it will be up to Vance and Walz to call out any inaccuracies during the debate and that “the moderators will facilitate those opportunities” during rebuttal time, per the Associated Press. Outgoing CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell and Face the Nation‘s Margaret Brennan will moderate the event.

CBS will, however, offer fact-checking on its live blog and on social media during the debate and on air afterward.

The decision comes after ABC’s presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump earlier this month, when moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis fact-checked Trump’s incorrect statements about abortion, the 2020 election, crime statistics, and reports that immigrants in Ohio were eating pets.

In debate rules CBS shared online, the network said that the debate will last 90 minutes, with two four-minute breaks. O’Donnell and Brennan will be the only ones asking the candidates questions, and there will be no live audience.

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No props or notes will be allowed on stage, no topics of questions will be provided to the candidates or their campaigns before the debate, and staffers may not interact with candidates during the breaks.

With each question, one candidate will get two minutes to answer, one will get two minutes to respond, both will get another minute for rebuttals, and the moderators may offer both candidates an additional minute for further discussion. CBS also reserved the right to mute the candidates’ microphones.

Vice Presidential Debate, Tuesday, October 1, 9/8c, CBS, CBS News 24/7, Paramount+