I think BBC's "Hardtalk" is doing something like this, thought it is just doing interviews (I think).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HARDtalk
Basically, he's not letting politicians get away with all their usual BS. However, one could go much further than this - be more systematic, even tougher, etc. Moderating debates using the same principle is a logical next step (perhaps it has been done).
My understanding is that HARDtalk is quite succesful.
I think the idea of this post is very good (indeed I have similar ideas myself which I'll probably write something on later) and have a hard time understanding why it's being voted down.
Thanks for the recommendation. I've watched a couple Hardtalk interviews and they were great. Hardtalk definitely suffers the limitations of oral discussion that people talk about elsewhere in this thread, but, for what it is, it's great.
See this Newsroom clip.
Basically, their news network is trying to change the way political debates work by having the moderator force the candidates to answer the questions that are asked of them, not interrupt each other, justify arguments that are based on obvious falsehoods etc.
How big of a positive impact do you guys think that this would have on society?
My initial thoughts are that it would be huge. It would lead to better politicians, which would be a high level of action. The positive effects would trickle down into many aspects of our society.
The question then becomes, "can we make this happen?". I don't see a way right now, but the idea has enough upside to me that I keep it in the back of my mind in case I come up with a plausible way of implementing the change.
Thoughts?