The editorial board of the New York Times confuses the role of the journalist during the election season with the role of the moderator during a debate. The New York Times is stolidly indifferent to the fact that journalists have failed to get Hillary Clinton "to speak accurately about [her] record and policies" but they want the moderator to do Hillary Clinton's job in the debate which is to debate Donald Trump.
The role of the moderator in the debate is to facilitate the adversaries to debate each other. The role of the journalist is to uncover candidates' positions on important issues and confront them when necessary with inconsistencies, flip-flops, lies and, yes, crimes. If a moderator puts his thumb on the scale in a debate you do not have a debate but a ganging up. We saw that with Candy Crowley.
The New York Times is attempting to tilt the playing field on behalf of Hillary and intimidate the moderators into becoming debaters.
