Some people anxiously await the Presidential debate between Biden and Trump. (RFK, Jr., has been prohibited from participating.) Unfortunately, I am not among such a group. With CNN sponsoring the debate and making the rules, there is little reason, if any, to believe a fair debate will be moderated. Who doesn’t know the political bias of CNN?

The station has published its rules for the debate:

• Candidates will be positioned at uniform podiums, determined by a coin flip.
• Microphones will be muted when it is not their turn to speak.
• Candidates will only have access to a pen, a notepad, and a bottle of water during the debate.
• Props and prepared notes are strictly prohibited.
• There will be no studio audience.
• Two commercial breaks will be placed in the 90-minute broadcast.

Those rules appear to be fair and fine. I might add a rule requiring that the candidates have their ears and pockets searched before allowing them to step up to the podiums to avoid sleight of hands with notes or earpieces. And, of course, representatives of both political parties should be allowed there to ensure everything is on the up and up for both candidates.

Image by AI.

However, we need more than rules about candidate performance. Due to the steep decline of media political neutrality—and CNN enjoys one of the steepest such declines—there should be published rules for the moderators of the debates, as previous debates are proof that they’ve given free rein to their biases by treating one or another of the candidates with loaded hardball questions and the other with easy softball questions. Here are my suggestions as a former League of Women Voters moderator of political forums:

• Each moderator should ask the very same question word-for-word of both candidates to ensure equal and fair treatment.
• Moderators should present their questions to both political party representatives to ensure they stick to the previous rule. That must be done immediately before the debate with no further contact with the candidates.
• Moderators should pose questions that are not tinged with personal biases or attacks on either candidate. In other words, stick to issues, policies, history, and/or events.
• Moderators should bear in mind they are on trial as much as the candidates relative to their objectivity and respectfully fair treatment of both candidates. The American public is watching. This is not an occasion to propagandize or favor one candidate over the other.

If the moderators can’t control themselves and their biases, they may be responsible for future such debates coming to an end because they are not fair or honest. We must return to fair debates allowing only the candidates to duke it out with each other. Due to previous failures to treat candidates equally and fairly, it is understood that great effort will be required of the moderators to turn a page on presidential debates in order for them to become trustworthy.

It’s both a high calling and service to Presidents Biden and Trump and more so to the American people. I would love to rejoin those people who anxiously await America’s presidential debates because we know we can trust the debates’ reputation for integrity. CNN and the moderators alone can achieve this, not only for me but for all Americans, regardless of their partisan views.