NexStar Media is disputing the allegation from Pennsylvania Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman’s campaign that the closed captioning used during Tuesday’s debate was riddled with errors.
Fetterman, who suffered from a stroke in May and has faced questions about his health, used closed captioning to help him understand the questions. Still, his debate performance has been described as “painful,” by Axios.
Meanwhile, Politico published a story with the headline, “Fetterman struggles during TV debate with Oz.”
After the debate, the Democrat’s campaign insisted he performed “remarkably well” and claimed there were closed captioning mistakes.
However, NexStar Media — the parent company of NewsNation, which hosted the debate — shot back in a statement denying the claim.
Gary Weitman, the executive vice president, and chief communications officer, of NexStar Media, said, “Both candidates agreed to the technical set-up for the closed captioning process weeks ago, which was implemented at the request of the Fetterman campaign.”
He continued:
“Both candidates were offered the opportunity for two full rehearsals with the same equipment used in tonight’s debate; Mr. Fetterman chose to do only one. In fact, NexStar’s production team went to extraordinary lengths to ensure the effectiveness of the close captioning process, and to accommodate several last-minute requests of the Fetterman campaign.”
Finally, Weitman added, “The closed captioning process functioned as expected during rehearsal and again during tonight’s debate. We regret that Mr. Fetterman and his campaign feel otherwise.”
Read the statement below:
Statement from our parent company, @NXSTMediaGroup, in response to the @JohnFetterman campaign claiming he was “working off of delayed captions filled with errors” during last night’s Pennsylvania Senate debate on @NewsNation pic.twitter.com/PUT5ELfQ0C
— Robert Sherman (@RobertShermanTV) October 26, 2022
Tuesday’s debate with Fetterman and Republican Mehmet Oz was the only scheduled debate between the two candidates before the election.
The high-stakes debate comes as the polls appear to show the race has tightened significantly. According to FiveThirtyEight’s average of polls, Fetterman led Oz by 12-points in August.
But as of Wednesday morning, his lead has been whittled down to two points.
And the exchange occurred amid questions about the Democrat’s health. Politico notes that during the debate, he was “struggling at times to effectively communicate — missing words, pausing awkwardly, and speaking haltingly.”
After the debate, Fetterman’s communications director Joe Calvell told reporters, “We are thrilled with John’s performance. He did remarkably well tonight – especially when you consider that he’s still recovering from a stroke and was working off of delayed captions filled with errors.”
“John won countless exchanges, counter-punched aggressively, and pushed back on Oz’s cruelty and attacks,” he added.