DEBATES.studio exists to give the public a credible, structured forum for civic debate — free from partisan production, and accountable to a published set of standards.
Procedural equality
Equal time, equal segments, equal moderator attention. Speaking order rotates. No exceptions for any participant or affiliation.
Independent operation
DEBATES.studio is operated independently of any political party, candidate, campaign, PAC, or government office.
Radical transparency
Sponsors, partners, and producers are publicly disclosed on every debate page. Audit logs are retained.
Audience-centered
The public submits and upvotes questions. Audience score is collected with one-person-one-vote integrity controls.
Tamper-evident archive
Every completed debate's record — transcript, results, summary — is locked after publication and versioned.
Verified participants
Candidates are verified against public records of office sought. Moderators publish their conflicts and credentials.
What this means in practice
We will not endorse candidates. We will not editorialize during a debate. We will not accept sponsorship that would compromise the neutrality of any forum. We publish a code of conduct for moderators and require all participants to acknowledge our participation rules before going live.
Audience scoring is a measurement of participating viewer sentiment — not an official election result. We display this clearly on every results panel.
Where errors occur — in transcript, summary, or moderation — we publish corrections attached to the original record. The original is never silently overwritten.