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Like many, I was somewhat surprised by the news that Fox News anchor Bret Baier had secured a sit-down interview with Vice President Kamala Harris this week.
It is not all that often these days that politicians cross the imaginary line that separates cable news outlets from their party of choice. You don’t often see Republicans on MSNBC, just like you don’t often see Democrats on Fox News.
And the audiences — for better or worse, and I’d argue it’s significantly for the worse — have become firmly entrenched in those viewing patterns. So much so, that Bret Baier spent the hours following the announcement that he would be sitting down with the Democratic nominee by defending the interview.
Which is insane, and, unfortunately, a microcosm of the cable news landscape.
Bret Baier’s job at Fox News is to tell stories, find the truth, and seek answers for viewers who don’t have access to the answers they desire.
That’s it. That’s the job.
And the fact that he had to defend that notion against hyper-partisan lunatics as if he was personally doing Kamala Harris a favor, was absolutely bananas. Additionally, the idea that viewers could claim that he was going to ask softball questions of the Vice President because that was one of the stipulations of her appearance felt ridiculous.
Furthermore, the idea that he had to explain to people how the news works — why the interview will be taped and not aired live at 6 PM ET during Special Report with Bret Baier — shows just how far media literacy and deductive reasoning has fallen.
Former President Donald Trump hates Bret Baier. You can argue otherwise, but you’d be incorrect. But why does he hate him? Because the Fox News anchor asks tough questions.
Now, why does Bret Baier ask tough questions? This feels like — to anyone with half a brain and a pulse — a really simple question answer. It could be because he’s a quasi-leftist who has infiltrated Fox News and become a spy to help take down the Republican Party and the America First agenda by way of the ever-corrupt news media. Or, it could be because that’s his job.
Which one seems more likely and more plausible to you?
Additionally, after the first few portions of his job — like being a great storyteller, deciphering the truth, and seeking answers from those in power — Bret Baier’s other objectives are to create as large of an audience as possible. And you know what would accomplish that? Interviewing one of the two people — who the overwhelming majority of his audience despises — who have the chance to become the next President of the United States.
Point blank: Bret Baier is doing his job. And if some don’t like that, they should look in the mirror rather than the television screen.
Has the news media become so fractured that the idea of interviewing a candidate from “the opposition” is now viewed as helping them? As if having a candidate sit down for an interview is giving them a platform to say whatever they’d like in an effort to curate more voters?
I read the comments from The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur on Tuesday, and couldn’t have agreed more.
“If you’re a reporter and you think you shouldn’t report negative news about Kamala Harris because it might help Trump, you’re not a reporter,” Uygur wrote in a post on social media. “If you expect a news show to give you only positive coverage of Democrats, you’re not watching a news show, you’re watching a commercial. And Republicans, before you get too smug, this is even more true of right-wing media. Have you seen a lot of negative coverage of Trump in right-wing media? Do you think that’s because he’s never done anything wrong or because they’re doing propaganda instead of actual news?”
He couldn’t be more correct. It isn’t the news media’s job to decide who is and isn’t fit to be President. That’s the American public’s job. It’s the news media’s job to present the race fairly and accurately. And that’s something that I believe Fox News anchor Bret Baier believes, too.
So the idea that he had to defend an interview with one of two people who could legitimately win the job is asinine and preposterous. I truly hope that at some point in the near future, we look back on moments like these — and hundreds of others over the past decade, or so — with extreme contempt and an understanding that we’ll never go back there again. But, unfortunately, I think the future looks much more similar to what we see right now than the opposite.
Garrett Searight is Barrett Media’s News Editor, which includes writing bi-weekly industry features and a weekly column. He has previously served as Program Director and Afternoon Co-Host on 93.1 The Fan in Lima, OH, and is the radio play-by-play voice of Northern Michigan University hockey. Reach out to him at Garrett@BarrettMedia.com.
