Political analyst: CNN's interview of Harris was a 'disaster for journalism'
Journalist Mark Halperin delivered a scathing review of Vice President Kamala Harris' first interview since emerging as the Democratic nominee, calling it a "disaster for journalism."
Halperin characterized the highly anticipated interview as a dud, saying Harris only performed decently because CNN's Dana Bash was too soft on her.
"Kamala Harris did good enough but she largely did good enough because the questions were not even close to good enough. The questions were soft. The follow-ups were almost non-existent or soft. There were topics that were covered that shouldn't have been covered. There was way too much fluff," Halperin said during a livestream on his media platform 2WAY on Friday.
"The bumpers and the teases were just ads for the campaign," he added.
CNN'S KAMALA HARRIS, TIM WALZ INTERVIEW CAN BE SUMMED UP IN JUST TWO WORDS
The vice president sat down with CNN's Bash on Thursday after going nearly 40 days without a formal interview since rising to the top of the Democratic ticket. Harris defended her role in the Biden administration and said that her "values have not changed" when asked why she had abandoned many of her left-wing policies she embraced during her ill-fated bid for the 2020 Democratic nomination.
Halperin said Harris came across well but reiterated that the whole interview was a missed opportunity to press the nominee on questions voters cared about.
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"When people say she was good enough, she was. The word salad was minimal. Her tone was good. She was confident, being interviewed by someone she was friendly with," he remarked.
"I think it was a non-event. I don't know how many more interviews she plans to do, but I think it was a disaster for journalism. And I think it was super unfortunate that [it was] her first and perhaps only real interview before the debate and maybe the foreseeable future, because now I think she has permission to do Jen Psaki and the West Wing cast and all that," he continued, referring to the MSNBC host.
"I think its very unfortunate because almost nothing came out of that to allow the American people to understand what kind of president she would be," the journalist lamented.
Fox News Digital reached out to CNN for comment.
Halperin wasn't the only figure criticizing the network for being too easy on Harris on Friday.
Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Penn., told CNN on Friday that Harris "avoided a trainwreck" in her first interview but said Bash had failed to hold her accountable with follow-up questions.
However, Bash was praised by liberal outlets The New York Times and Poynter for having a "good night."
"It turned out to be a good night for everyone involved — Bash, Harris and Walz. Put it this way: All came through unscathed. Bash cannot be, pardon the pun, bashed for going too soft or being unfair. Harris was smooth and strong….All in all, it was a respectable night, starting with Bash, who handled the big assignment professionally and admirably," Poynter's Tom Jones wrote in an op-ed for Poynter.
"Still, the veteran journalist had a good night," The New York Times also hailed. "Conducting one of the most prominent interviews of her career, she ticked through the biggest questions looming over Ms. Harris’s young candidacy, including what specific plans, exactly, she would pursue and why she hadn’t carried out some of her proposals while serving as vice president."