CNBC has no plans to back down from hosting future presidential debates.
“Yes,” network spokesperson Brian Steel told TheWrap as to whether the business network will try and host another presidential debate in the future.
“It’s critical that those who seek to be the leader of the free world face substantive, challenging questions on interest rates, social security, the debt limit, student loans and taxes to name a few,” Steel concluded.
Also Read: How GOP's 'Media Bias' Crusade Could Make Reporters Flinch
CNBC doubling down on future debates comes after it’s been lambasted by the GOP for bias and unfairness, along with many in the media who say the moderators mismanaged the debate.
In response to the criticism, the business network said, “People who want to be President of the United States should be able to answer tough questions.”
Also Read: CNBC Staffers 'Shell Shocked' and 'Embarrassed' by Debate Debacle
The debate’s record ratings are probably making the criticism a little easier to swallow for network honchos. The GOP debate scored 14 million viewers for CNBC, its highest audience ever.
A network insider told TheWrap executives are citing the ratings to boost deflated newsroom morale.
Gawker’s Condé Nast controversy joins a growing list of spectacular media fails
The Washington Post's Fabricated Heroin Child Addict
Janet Cooke, who falsely claimed a master's degree from the University of Toledo, wrote a profile in 1980 for the Washington Post on an 8-year-old heroin addict. The story went viral and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1981. Two days after winning, the Post admitted the story had been fabricated and she resigned.