Legendary CBS News anchor Dan Rather trashed his ex-employer for not allowing moderators Margaret Brennan and Norah O’Donnell to fact-check during the vice presidential debate between JD Vance and Tim Walz on Tuesday.
“If there’s one thing Vance has learned from Trump, it’s that lying to get ahead is OK. If you get caught, just double down and lie some more,” he wrote in a Substack article. “Who’s going to fact check you? Well, apparently not CBS News.”
Rather, 91, who worked for the network for 45 years, said he was “always reluctant to criticize” CBS News, but called their decision “pathetic.”
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The cable news giant had told AP before the debate that moderators “will facilitate” opportunities for Vance and Walz to challenge each other during rebuttals.
CBS News told The Daily Beast, in a statement, live-fact checking would, however, be available on its website during the event and on-air after the debate.
According to Rather, the network’s fact-checking rule “incentivizes lying.”
“It invites the participants to bend the truth, since their opponent then has to spend his rebuttal time calling out the lie, rather than giving an opposing view,” he added. “And the calling out of a lie by an opponent rather than an impartial moderator is less credible.”
CBS News’ decision comes amid partisan controversy following the Sept. 10 presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump during which ABC News co-moderators Linsey Davis and David Muir corrected several factually incorrect statements made, primarily by Trump.
While many praised the anchors for their fact-checking, conservatives accused the network of being biased against the GOP presidential nominee, who has a history of knowingly making false claims.
Rather accused his former employer of being scared of similar backlash, noting that a news organization “should not be afraid to take heat.”
“Their responsibility is to call out lies. If they don’t do that on live television, during the most consequential election in modern history, they are the lesser for it,” he wrote. “But the biggest loser is the American electorate.”
Rather was forced out at CBS in 2006 after he relied on false documents to report that George W. Bush got special treatment during his National Guard service and that his superiors had been ordered to lie about his record.
Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story stated that CBS had issued a statement saying moderators would not correct false claims. This is inaccurate and has been amended.
