Moderator Gwen Ifill?

The news of the day hasn’t been focused on the Senate taking up a vote on a revised $850B bailout package (which passed by 74 to 25), but on PBS managing editor Gwen Ifill. She is scheduled to be the moderator for the Vice Presidential debates tomorrow night between Senator Joe Biden and Governor Sarah Palin. What has just reached the major news networks today, however, is that Gwen is also an author of a new book to be released around inauguration day where one of the main topics is Senator Barack Obama.

The question regarding this book is if Gwen can be impartial in the questioning of the VP Candidates since she has an implied conflict of interest. It seems obvious that her book sales will be higher if Obama were to win the election in November. So will she provide soft questions to Biden or hard questions to Palin in order to skew the election for her own personal game?

It does not seem that either campaign properly vetted her as a moderator, nor did the commission on debates. However, I don’t think that the campaigns really have anything to worry about here. With the press covering this issue all day, it will be fresh in the minds of the viewers tomorrow night during the debate. If she is viewed as giving Biden a pass while pressuring Palin, then her credibility will take a hit and she will lose potential customers when her book is released. If she is viewed as being fair, her reputation will rise and so too will the potential for her book sales.

So it is really in Gwen’s best interest to be impartial during the debate. For future moderators, however, they should use this case as a point of reference for the future and disclose any work that might be viewed as a conflict of interest and disclose it before being tapped to be the moderator. It removes unnecessary heat from the moderator as well as increases the credibility of the debate as well. May Gwen and the candidates have a good night and all perform well.  The eyes of America will be watching.

Related articles:
The BoBo Files – “Shouldn’t she recuse herself from the debate?”
The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler – “Isn’t the Word ‘Moderate’ Somehow Linked to the Title ‘Moderator?’”