CNN reporter 'nervous' media is too 'preoccupied' with interviewing Harris as she reaches voters directly
A CNN reporter said on Thursday that she is "nervous" that the media is too "preoccupied" with interviewing Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
"I do get a little nervous that in the media we're preoccupied with, like, how much access, how many conversations is she going to have in the settings we deem most valuable to voters, when this is a campaign that is actually making a mark in an interesting way, reaching out to people directly," said correspondent Audie Cornish, the host of CNN’s Audio podcast "The Assignment."
Cornish’s comments came immediately after the vice president sat down alongside running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Thursday night for a CNN interview with Dana Bash.
The highly anticipated interview marks her first in-depth sit down with the media since she first became the presumptive nominee. Furthermore, she still has not held a press conference in 40 days.
Harris has largely avoided the media since being anointed to the top of the Democratic ticket, swapping out President Biden after he withdrew from the race. Additionally, the vice president rarely answered media questions while on the campaign trail.
After Harris faced backlash from Republicans for dodging the media, Cornish said, "And I think today it did show that she has the ability to sit down and have that back-and-forth that Republicans are talking about ‘can she really do it?’ So, how many more times?"
"I don’t know how much that matters," she said.
She explained further that while Harris is "good at asking sharp, tough questions of people" who deserve scrutiny, "the stakes have been higher" when the vice president has been under scrutiny herself.
The lack of media access has subjected Harris to scrutiny and criticism as it allowed her to dodge tough questions about her flip-flopping on past policy stances since she ascended to the top of the Democratic ticket.
Harris said during the CNN interview with Bash that she would not ban fracking if elected, claiming she made it "clear" where she stood on fracking during the 2020 election.
"No, and I made that clear on the debate stage in 2020 that I would not ban fracking. As vice president, I did not ban fracking. As president, I will not ban fracking," Harris said.
However, before Harris dropped her first bid for president in 2019 and was selected as Biden’s running mate, she said in a CNN town hall "there’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking" on her first day in office.
The interview with CNN comes just 68 days before Election Day.