Media matters

Donald Trump would have walked out after the first question. And the New York Times is still annoyed at not having a chance to interview Kamala Harris.

That seems to be an inevitable conclusion from the coverage by the “Newspaper of Record” of Vice President Kamala Harris’ sit-down with CBS News “60 Minutes” correspondent Bill Whitaker.

“Vice President Kamala Harris sat for an interview with “60 Minutes” that was broadcast on Monday night and, in a departure from some of her recent appearances on cable news and podcasts, she was repeatedly pressed on questions she did not initially answer.”

In contrast, here’s how the Washington Post characterized Harris’ scheduled media appearances:

“After taking over the Democratic ticket, picking a running mate, staging a convention and turning in a strong debate performance, Vice President Kamala Harris is now embracing potentially the riskiest test of a presidential campaign — the day-to-day grind of unscripted interviews.”

Truth be told, Whitaker’s questioning of Harris was undoubtedly the toughest grilling any candidate has faced this cycle. He did indeed press her for answers — which she eventually provided.

Trump, who declined the opportunity to do the traditional CBS interview, wouldn’t have lasted past that first pushback. After all, one of his many reasons for backing out of an agreed-upon sit-down was because he would have been fact-checked.

And that he wanted an apology from correspondent Lesley Stahl for saying in a 2020 interview with him that Hunter Biden’s laptop came from Russia. As Scott Pelley declared: “she never said that.”

Instead, he took to the fact-free zone of the Fox Propaganda Channel to air his false accusation that the Biden Administration is behind the multitude of criminal charges against him for efforts to overthrow the 2020 election.

And that taped interview appeared the same day that he phoned it in with conservative radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt to go full-on fascist in blaming migrants with “bad genes” among the 13,000 murderers who entered the country over the past four decades.

“Many of them murdered far more than one person, and they’re now happily living in the United States,” he added. “You know, now a murderer, I believe this, it’s in their genes. And we got a lot of bad genes in our country right now. They left, they had 425,000 people come into our country that shouldn’t be here, that are criminals.”

There’s a term for blaming genetics for bad character traits — and trying to use science to change them: eugenics. One of the principal practitioners was Josef Mengele, who experimented on prisoners kept in Nazi concentration camps.

The political press corps in general, and the Times in particular, has been miffed over the number of media appearances by Joe Biden and Harris. And no doubt more annoyed that her schedule for the day after “60 Minutes” includes Howard Stern and Stephen Colbert — two popular entertainers who have become regular stops on the campaign circuit in recent elections.

And who have shown an ability to ask questions beyond who’s ahead in the polls.

Let’s also not forget that Trump and running mate JD Vance’s many interviews amount to streams of consciousness or outright lies. But apparently it’s better to meet the press and lie rather than try to reach a broader audience that doesn’t consume traditional media.

To be fair, the Times has shown an inclination in recent days to go where they have long declined to go with Trump (but not Biden): his physical and mental health.

As we enter the final four weeks before voters go to the polls it is important that the candidates make themselves available for questions. In as many forums as possible — from newspapers to podcasts — to reach the infinitesimally small percentage of Americans who haven’t decided whether to cast ballots.

It’s also critically important to hold their feet to the fire — particularly when it comes to telling the truth.

Oh, and where’s the push to get Trump to do an interview with the Times?