Copy of Harris is Emasculating the Mainstream Media. Here is Why They're Letting Her Do So.

Vice-President Kamala Harris’s biggest interview to date came last week with Oprah Winfrey in a town hall format.? I tried to watch some of it on YouTube … I really did … but it was so lightweight that I just had to turn it off.? Even the audience questions (which I’m guessing were pre-screened) were just weak.? It seemed less like an interview then a campaign rally with Harris giving her typical non-answers to questions on topics like inflation and the economy.? In the twenty painful minutes or so which I watched I heard a lot of talking points but learned nothing about her policies. She didn't even appear until twenty minutes into the program while Winfrey worked the crowd, it appeared that Harris was cued into some of the questions ahead of time, and some questions she didn't answer at all.

I don’t like quoting former Vice-President Sarah Palin, but if this anodyne drivel is all we’re going to get from a candidate vying for the biggest job in the world, I don’t blame Harris for that (she's trying to win), I don’t blame Winfrey for that (she's trying to help her win), and I don’t blame her campaign or her supporters.? No, I blame what Palin used to call the ‘lamestream media’.? That’s because what Harris is proving every day she doesn't do serious interviews is that our mainstream media has indeed become lame.

Admittedly, you cannot as a news organization force someone to do a sit down interview with one of your reporters, but I know as a former News Director that you can try to make it painful for them not to do so.? For example, if you’re a network news outlet, you could ask every surrogate Harris sends out every time, “By our count we have put in forty-seven interview requests with the Harris campaign and they have not responded to any of them.? Why isn't she here instead of you?”? You could also remind viewers after every story on Harris that you’ve repeatedly asked for an interview with her and have been rejected.? Even use a ‘count-up’ clock on-air showing how many days it has been since Harris has rejected requests to do an interview with your news organization.

My point is that news media interviews with candidates is an important part of the vetting process for voters, but only if the news media takes that responsibility seriously.? Would you say they are?? I would not using three simple words.

Trump Derangement Syndrome

Donald Trump likes to call the news media ‘fake news’, but the crazy thing is that is exactly what he has turned them into.? The news media’s ‘wink, wink’ no interview campaign with Harris is just the latest example.? They're letting her get away with not doing press conferences or interviews because none of them wants to be the outlet which might possibly bring Harris down with bad answers to serious questions, and so they just shrug and cover her campaign as if this is normal.

Let’s say Harris does get elected, a crisis breaks out such as a terrorist attack which sadly leaves many dead, and Americans want answers to tough questions from their Commander-in-Chief regarding her administration’s accountability.? What’s she going to do?? Hold a news conference and do interviews with the media, or just put out a statement and hide in the Oval Office

What really scares me about the media’s abdication of their responsibility with regards to insisting on interviews with Harris is that I have absolutely no idea what the answer to that question is.