The Associated Press (AP) is arguing that there is no significant importance for Vice President Kamala Harris to speak to reporters.
Since becoming the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Harris has not yet held a press conference or spoken to members of the press.
On Friday, the AP released a headline titled “Meet the press? Hold that thought. The candidate sit-down interview ain’t what it used to be.”
On Thursday, Harris said that her campaign will hold a sit-down interview before the end of the month.
The announcement came after former President Donald Trump held an hour-long interview with the press at his South Florida residence: Mar-a-Lago.
The former president has spent a while criticizing Harris for avoiding the media.
“That’s about to change, now it has become a campaign issue,” the AP said. “But for journalists, the larger lesson is that their role as presidential gatekeepers is probably diminishing forever.”
The outlet quoted a Republican strategist who argued that the top priority for candidates “is to control the message as much as possible.”
“Interviews and news conferences take that control away,” the AP wrote.
“Candidates are at the mercy of questions that journalists raise — even if they try to change the subject. News outlets decide which answers are newsworthy and will be sliced and diced into soundbites that rocket around social networks, frequently devoid of the context in which they were uttered,” the outlet added.
“In such an environment, the value and perception of the sit-down interview has changed — for journalists and candidates alike,” it continued.
The AP then pointed out that Harris’ campaign could be “taking lessons” from President Joe Biden who conducted interviews with ABC and NBC after his poor debate performance against Trump but was not helped in any way in doing so.
Many criticized the outlet’s report on social media, saying that the press’ job is to hold candidates accountable and ask them questions.
“THIS IS NOT OK!” writer Amanda Fortini said on X. “And it’s journalists’ job to say so, to hold politicians accountable. I am embarrassed for the profession.”
A writer for RedState also commented on the matter, saying that the media would rather shield Harris than ask her questions.
“The national press are now stumping for Harris to not do interviews. News organizations would rather protect Kamala Harris than make news. Astonishing,” Bonchie wrote.
During his rally in Bozeman, Montana, Trump argued that candidates, like Harris, who are unwilling to conduct a press conference should not be president.
“If you can’t do a press conference, you cannot be president. Okay. That’s it. She (Kamala Harris) doesn’t do one. Remember when I used to always walk up to the press under the helicopter, or under the wing of the plane and talk to them, which I loved it because if I didn’t like the question, I can say I can’t hear you, the helicopters (white flash),” Trump said.
“So now she walks up, she takes like half a question, and she’ll leave. Joe is bad. Joe couldn’t hear. He couldn’t do anything,” he added.
