[Initial Insight] U.S. Presidential Candidate Debate and Fact-Check

After the first TV debate between the U.S. presidential candidates on the 27th of last month (local time), the aftermath continues with petty exchanges between the two candidates and pressure for Joe Biden to withdraw due to his advanced age.

CNN, which hosted the debate, also received poor reviews. CNN reported after the debate that "Donald Trump made more than 30 false claims during the debate, while President Biden made 9 false or misleading claims," without pointing these out during the debate itself.

Regarding this, the Associated Press pointed out, "CNN posted several fact-checks on social media during the debate, but TV viewers would not have known about them unless they happened to look for them." Online media Axios also stated, "For Americans who only watched the event on TV, most of Trump's repeated lies went largely unchallenged," and criticized the moderators for not addressing these issues.

Among the common logical fallacies is the 'appeal to authority,' where a statement is claimed to be true based on the speaker's authority, and the 'inappropriate appeal to authority,' often seen in product advertisements, where the speaker is not an expert in the field but is easily believed. These fallacies frequently appear in politics as well.

Many American viewers likely accepted without much doubt the numerous falsehoods spoken by two prominent political leaders of their country during an authoritative broadcast debate. Their words will spread widely through the internet and social media. Why then did CNN not more actively point out these falsehoods and deliver fact-checked content to viewers more clearly and accurately? We all know how difficult it is to correct and reverse information once accepted as true. There is great regret that the media's role in pursuing truth did not function properly.

"If we lack the ability to distinguish what is true and what is false, naturally the marketplace of ideas will not function. And naturally, our democracy will not function. We are entering an epistemological crisis."

Former U.S. President Barack Obama said this about the threats to American democracy in an interview with the American current affairs weekly The Atlantic on November 16, 2020.

Obama's concern has become reality and everyday life. It is increasingly difficult to discern truth from falsehood in the flood of information and news on the internet and social media. Many scholars point out that "in a society dominated by social media, the key is not finding information but the ability to identify fakes (falsehoods)."

However, it is very difficult to distinguish fakes. Simply searching on portal sites to satisfy momentary curiosity is easy, but persistently comparing and reviewing the vast amount of search results with reasonable skepticism?asking "Is this really correct?"?requires significant time and energy. Even the hottest topic these days, artificial intelligence (AI), seriously misleads users with false information known as "hallucination," deceiving users with hallucination-like symptoms.

The media also often produces breaking news based on immature information or partial circumstances before the facts are fully revealed, and sometimes reports one-sided claims in a biased manner rather than presenting balanced opinions from multiple people, making it difficult for readers to properly understand the issues. Reflecting on the criticism directed at CNN's debate coverage, we are reminded of the media's fundamental mission to pursue truth and the importance of fact-checking.