Gwen Ifill tried to defend her conflict-of-interest this way:

Ifill questions why people assume that her book will be favorable toward Obama. “Do you think they made the same assumptions about Lou Cannon (who is white) when he wrote his book about Reagan?” said Ifill, who is black. Asked if there were racial motives at play, she said, “I don’t know what it is. I find it curious.”

So I asked Lou Cannon, in an email, what he thought of this. Here’s his reply:

Didn’t know of this comment. Gwen’s a friend; of course, she’s a liberal. I hold her in high regard and would expect that she will be fair to both sides. My only other comment is that I would never have moderated a televised debate involving Reagan–and never did–because it would have been perceived as a conflict of interest by liberals and conservatives alike even though I think I would have been balanced. But perception is very important.