Oct 2, 2012 No Comments ›› Pat Dollard
From Noah Rothman‘s piece in Mediaite: PBS host and debate moderator, Jim Lehrer, is ‘seething’ over criticisms already being directed at the Commission on Presidential Debates according to a report in the New York Times. From the topics to be discussed to the racial and demographic makeup of the moderators, many of the CPD’s choices have come under intense scrutiny. Lehrer is, reportedly, having none of it.
The CPD and the debates are already coming under fire from critics who do not see enough diversity in the lineup of moderators or the topics up for discussion.
The moderators for the three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate are all white this cycle and primarily male. Two women – CNN’s Candy Crowley and ABC News’ Martha Raddatz, will moderate a presidential and vice presidential debate respectively. Frank Fahrenkopf, Republican co-chair of the CPD, told Poynter on Tuesday that this condition was the fault of the networks for having so few high-profile minorities on staff.
“The television industry has not done a very good job with diversity with regard to really having women, or blacks or Hispanics in leading situations,” Fahrenkopf told Poynter via telephone.
