What’s next for Kamala Harris and meeting the press?

Vice President Kamala Harris has been on quite a run over the past two months.

She went from serving as vice president and running mate to a man who seemed well on his way to being voted out of office come November to finding herself in a virtual tie in the race to become president of the United States.

Harris’ unprecedented and meteoric rise has taken her from a spectacular Democratic National Convention to a solid interview on CNN to an overwhelmingly successful presidential debate against Donald Trump. Throughout it all, she has continued to give confident and scripted speeches to large and enthusiastic crowds on the campaign trail.

But still, many are wondering what her media plan is for the rest of the campaign.

On Tuesday, Harris was interviewed by journalists from Politico, NPR and TheGrio during a session of the National Association of Black Journalists. You might remember that her opponent, Donald Trump, had a combative interview with journalists at July’s NABJ convention in Chicago. It was during that interview that Trump questioned Harris’ racial identity, saying, “I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black.”

(Harris’ mother is Indian and her father is Jamaican. She attended a historically Black university, and has always embraced her Black identity.)

So now what? What’s next for Harris in terms of media? What’s the plan?

As The New York Times’ Reid J. Epstein and Michael M. Grynbaum wrote, “With no more mass-audience events remaining before Election Day, and former President Donald J. Trump declaring, for now, that he will not submit to another debate, Ms. Harris must determine the best way to keep introducing herself to voters who still have questions about her policies and plans for the nation.”

She could simply carry on with what has been working: rallies and occasional interviews with local media, podcasts and social media types.

Epstein and Grynbaum wrote, “Both the Harris and Trump campaigns have concluded that the old-school strategy of interviews with broadcast networks and national newspapers may not be worth the risk, given that voters increasingly get their election news from a variety of less traditional sources, like TikTok influencers or celebrity-hosted podcasts.”

That would suggest no big sitdown with, say, “60 Minutes” or an evening news anchor. Instead, Harris’ smart move might be to focus on interviews with local news outlets in swing states that will ultimately decide the election — places such as Pennsylvania, Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, and maybe even North Carolina.

Instead of talking about big-picture issues with a major network, Harris might be best served by going local and talking about the economy in Pennsylvania, or immigration in Arizona.

Now, that is not to say Harris will stay away from a big national interview. A shift in the polls could always alter any plan.

But, Kate Bedingfield, a former communications director for President Joe Biden and Biden’s deputy campaign manager in 2020, told the Times, “There’s an old adage that ‘earned’ beats ‘paid’ every time on a presidential campaign. Local media is king, and I think she should do it a lot.”

By the way, Poynter’s PolitiFact live fact-checked Harris’ interview with the NABJ.

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Strange tweet from Brit Hume

There was a time when Brit Hume was considered an objective political journalist. Back in the 1990s, he was ABC’s chief White House correspondent.

But these days, as Fox News’ chief political analyst, Hume clearly leans well right.

Earlier this week, as Donald Trump ramped up talk that “rhetoric” from Kamala Harris and Joe Biden was to be blamed for the assassination attempts against him, Hume tweeted this:

If Donald Trump is held responsible for Jan. 6 because of his allegations that the 2020 election was stolen, is it unfair, after two assassination attempts, to hold responsible the Democrats who have ceaselessly claimed Trump is a threat to democracy?

But Mediaite’s Colby Hall makes a valid point, writing, “The problem is that the comparison makes no sense. It is a brazen false equivalency that flat-out ignores the fact that what caused Jan. 6 — Trump’s false election claims and his continued spouting of them — is precisely the threat to democracy that Hume invokes.”

Hall adds, “Crucially, the difference between Hume’s examples of inciting claims is simple: one is true, and one is false. The claim that fueled Jan. 6, that the 2020 election was stolen, is false. If it were true, few would criticize Trump for complaining about it. It was not true.”

Furthermore, and this is me saying this, saying someone is a threat to democracy is not the same as suggesting they be assassinated. In addition, we still don’t entirely know the motivations behind the would-be assassins.

Hall concludes by writing, “You can disagree that Trump is the threat his critics say he is. But you cannot deny the evidence. Unlike Trump’s false election claims, the threat Trump poses to democracy is not an invention; it is a belief based on his own actions, documented widely, and it’s entirely fair game for Democrats to focus on.”

Good work on Fox Business

Trump’s dangerous words are resonating with many on the right, but here’s an example of responsible journalism turned in by Fox Business host Stuart Varney on Tuesday afternoon when one of those on the right perpetuated incendiary talking points.

Varney was interviewing former FBI special agent Jonathan Gilliam, who was in another location, about Trump’s security detail. Late in the interview, Gilliam shockingly said, “I’m going to say this on air. The Democrat party … they want Trump dead.”

Varney immediately jumped in, telling Gilliam, “No, no, no. I don’t think you can say that legitimately.”

Gilliam then said, “I think we can say that legitimately based on the verbiage they use, and then they cover up. To say that they want him eliminated, to say that they want him gone, these are words that push people forward, and then you have directors of agencies like this that come on, and they do not do the job, the simple job of perimeter security over and over and over again.”

Varney interrupted again, saying, “I’m going to end it right there. I’m not going to take any conspiracy theories on this show.”

Gilliam said, “That’s not a conspiracy theory.”

Varney said, “Yes it is. Yes it is. And I’m not having it.”

Varney then moved on, while Gilliam kept talking. But Gilliam’s microphone was cut off.

Good work by Varney to cut Gilliam off as he did. Here’s more, including the video, from The Daily Beast’s Liam Archacki.

It should be noted that Harris told the journalists at the NABJ event that she spoke with Trump on Tuesday, adding, “I told him what I have said publicly, there’s no place for political violence in our country.”

Houston Landing reboots

For this item, I turn it over to Poynter media business analyst Rick Edmonds.

Nonprofit startup Houston Landing is pivoting to an emphasis on solutions journalism and a stronger focus on minority communities, including the metro’s huge Hispanic population.

The free digital site announced Tuesday the hiring of eight new staffers, several of them Hispanic or Spanish speakers. Earlier this year, Houston Landing named Manny Garcia as editor-in-chief and Angel Rodríguez as managing editor.

In a press release, CEO Peter Bhatia wrote, “We do not see Houston Landing as a passive observer in the old journalism tradition. While it is not our role to legislate change, we will show the way forward to address chronic issues and will use all our capabilities in pursuit of a better and more equitable Houston.”

In an email, Bhatia added, “We’re also focusing more on communities that have been underserved by media and will create content (by traditional and non-traditional means) that serve that substantial percentage of Houston’s populace.” According to the 2020 census, the Houston metro is 44% Hispanic and 25% Black.

Houston Landing is mainly funded by local foundations, with $20 million pledged for the startup. It is one of three large city projects orchestrated by the American Journalism Project. Last week, AJP announced a fourth, launching next year, that will serve Los Angeles.

Houston Landing hit a bumpy stretch in January when Bhatia fired his original editor-in-chief, Mizanur Rahman, after just seven months. He said then he had no personal problem with Rahman and the integrity of the journalism, “but we needed to make changes to achieve our goal of being a truly digital enterprise-driven news operation serving Houston.”

Rahman and a number of staffers said that they were blindsided by the dismissal and confused by the explanation. They complained to the Landing’s board, but the board opted to stand behind Bhatia and his strategic redo.

Trying something at Instagram

 

Changes are coming to Instagram in an effort to protect young users of the social media platform. But will it work? That remains to be seen.

Instagram users younger than 18 will have their accounts made private by default. That means only followers approved by the holder of the account will be able to see their posts. In addition, Instagram plans to stop notifications to young users from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. to encourage minors to put down their phones and get more sleep. Instagram also is introducing more features that will allow parents to see the accounts that their children recently messaged.

It will all be under something called “Teen Accounts.”

The New York Times’ Mike Isaac and Natasha Singer wrote, “The changes are one of the most far-reaching set of measures undertaken by an app to address teenagers’ use of social media, as scrutiny over young people’s experiences online has ramped up. In recent years, parents and children’s groups have warned that Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and other apps have regularly exposed children and teenagers to bullying, pedophiles, sexual extortion and content promoting self-harm and eating disorders.”

Naomi Gleit — head of product at Meta, which owns Instagram — told The Associated Press’ Barbara Ortutay, “The three concerns we’re hearing from parents are that their teens are seeing content that they don’t want to see or that they’re getting contacted by people they don’t want to be contacted by or that they’re spending too much time on the app. So teen accounts is really focused on addressing those three concerns.”

But, as with most things, there are loopholes. Teens could lie about their ages to get around the teen restrictions, although Axios’ Sara Fischer wrote, “To prevent teens from lying about their age to circumvent the new settings, Instagram will now require users to verify their age in new ways, such as via a government-issued ID or facial scans.”

In addition, after the update to the app puts the new restrictions in place, users who are 16 and 17 years old can change the app back to their preferred settings. But 13- to 15-year-old users will need parental approval to change the preferred settings.

The new policies are not perfect, but they are, at least, some attempt to make the Instagram experience less harmful.

Zvika Krieger, a former director of Meta’s responsible innovation team who now works as a consultant for technology companies, told The Washington Post’s Naomi Nix and Cristiano Lima-Strong, “All this is better than it was before. I don’t want to say that it’s worthless or cosmetic, but I do think that it doesn’t solve all the problems.”

Meta, however, had to do something.

As CNN’s Clare Duffy noted, “Pressure on Meta to do more to protect teens ramped up again after a new Facebook employee-turned-whistleblower, Arturo Bejar, said in a November Senate subcommittee hearing that Meta’s top executives, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg, ignored warnings for years about harms to teens on its platforms.”

Media tidbits

• Sarah Jane Weaver, editor of the Deseret News in Utah, with “The ‘Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ does not represent me.”
• SiriusXM announced today that Nikki Haley, former U.N. ambassador, South Carolina governor, and Republican presidential candidate, will host a new show for SiriusXM’s Triumph called “Nikki Haley Live.” Debuting Sept. 25, the hourlong program will air every Wednesday at 8 a.m. Eastern through the presidential inauguration in January.
• Former Washington Post media columnist Margaret Sullivan reviews the Connie Chung book for The New York Times: “Connie Chung Signed Off, but She Isn’t Done Talking.”
• And The Washington Post’s Anne Branigin writes about Chung and her marriage to Maury Povich in “Connie and Maury’s key to a 40-year marriage? Don’t take it seriously.”
• The Washington Post has hired Kelley Benham French as its first-ever narrative accountability editor. The Post says Benham French “will oversee a team with the mission of harnessing immersive reporting, rigorous investigative work and exceptional writing to produce stories that hold powerful forces to account on matters of urgent national interest.” Benham French has had an extensive and well-respected career in journalism. Her resume includes high-profile editing and/or reporting jobs at USA Today, The Oregonian, The Plain Dealer, Tampa Bay Times and The Dallas Morning News. She also served as a professor of practice in journalism at the Media School at Indiana University.

Hot type

• For Esquire, the always-superb Joe Posnanski with “The Stories Behind Three of the Craziest Upset Endings in College Football History.”

More resources for journalists

• Convene with CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta
• Build a framework for ethics and standards around AI in Level Up.
• Are you an upcoming-and-coming newsroom manager?

Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at [email protected].