Network Fires Back After Fetterman’s Campaign Claims Closed Captioning Was ‘Filled With Errors’ During Debate

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.”