Clinton vs Trump and the role of the moderator

On The Listening Post this week: Facts, fiction and the role of the moderator – the first US presidential debate. Plus, the information war in Ukraine and the dangers for journalists there.

Dissecting the first US presidential debate 

With 80 million people watching the first debate, the focus wasn’t just on the candidates, but also on the moderator and the wider media. Who would sort the facts from the fiction?

Contributors: Todd Graham, director of debate, Southern Illinois University; Alexios Mantzarlis, director and editor, The International Fact-Checking Network; Amanda Terkel, HuffPo senior political reporter; Kelly Riddell, deputy opinion editor, The Washington Times.

On our radar:

• Jordanian writer, Nahed Hattar, was shot dead outside of Amman’s Supreme Court building where he was about to stand trial for sharing an allegedly “offensive” cartoon.
• British border authorities confiscated the passport of Syrian journalist, Zaina Erhaim, at the request of the Bashar al-Assad government.
• The South African Broadcasting Corporation awarded embattled Acting Chief Operating Officer, Hlaudi Motsoeneng, a $1m bonus despite calls for him to resign. 

Ukraine’s information war 

Hackers have leaked the personal data of thousands of journalists covering the war in Eastern Ukraine. The exposure has put reporters at risk, collateral damage in the information war in Ukraine.

The Listening Post‘s Nic Muirhead reports.

Contributors: Ian Bateson, freelance foreign correspondent, Ukraine; Katya Sergatskova, journalist, Hromadske TV; Maria Snegovaya, author, ‘Putin’s Information War in Ukraine’; Alya Shandra, editor, Euromaidan Press.