We start by looking back at NBC News’ interview with John Fetterman, the Pennsylvania Democratic candidate for senator — which is still getting plenty of reaction. (Here’s the full interview.)
Fetterman is recovering from a stroke he suffered in May and NBC News’
Dasha Burns interviewed him for segments that ran on Tuesday’s “NBC Nightly News” and Wednesday’s “Today” show. Fetterman answered Burns’ oral questions after reading them written out on a computer screen. He told Burns, “I sometimes will hear things in a way that's not perfectly clear. So I use captioning so I'm able to see what you're saying on the captioning.”
Burns came under question when she said that during small talk with Fetterman before the interview, “it wasn't clear he understood what I was saying.”
Podcaster Kara Swisher tweeted that sounded like “nonsense” because she interviewed Fetterman recently with no issues and that maybe Burns was just “bad at small talk.”
Burns responded by tweeting, “It's possible for two different reporters to have two different experiences w a candidate. Our team was in the room w him & reported what happened in it, as journalists do. Before & after closed captioning was on.”
On Wednesday’s “Today” show, Burns told host Samantha Guthrie that just because Fetterman used captioning doesn’t mean he has comprehension issues.
She said, “Stroke experts do say that this does not mean he has any cognitive impairment. Doesn't mean his memory or his cognitive condition is impaired, and he didn't fully recover from this. And once the closed captioning was on, he was able to fully understand my questions.”
Burns tweeted, “We were happy to accommodate closed captioning. Our reporting did not and should not comment on fitness for office. This is for voters to decide. What we do push for as reporters is transparency. It’s our job. Fetterman sat down and answered our questions. That’s his job.”
Still, some wonder that if Fetterman has no issues understanding the questions when they are written out and can answer them, even with a mispronounced word here or there, then why bring it up? Some ask if it’s any different than a candidate who is deaf and reading off a screen. Or using a hearing aid.
Or, think of it this way: Fetterman has a temporary disability, but is able to compensate for it by using technology. That technology allows him to do his job competently and fully to the point that it ceases to be a disability.
USA Today columnist Connie Schultz tweeted, “As he continues to recover, @JohnFetterman used technology to help him answer a reporter’s questions. How we as journalists frame this reveals more about us than it does him.”
By all other accounts, Fetterman is carrying on as usual.
The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Max Marin and Julia Terruso wrote Wednesday, “Fetterman has ramped up his campaign activity recently, often holding several large rallies a week, along with a handful of smaller meetings with community members. At the rallies, he speaks without a teleprompter, and has taken to preempting criticisms about verbal stumbles by telling the audience he knows his opponent, Republican Mehmet Oz, hopes to use those gaffes against him. ‘I guarantee it, there’s at least one person here filming me, hoping to catch me missing some words,’ he said at a rally in Bucks on Sunday. While it’s clear he struggles to get some words out, his stump speeches have seemed more fluid since August when he first returned to the trail.”
Marin and Terruso added, “While NBC News billed its sit-down as an exclusive, Fetterman has done a number of interviews with media outlets since his return to the campaign trail, but this is the first to focus heavily on his speech issues.”
Fetterman had another high-profile video interview on Wednesday with the editorial board of PennLive.com.
Fetterman tweeted, “Just finished an hour-long endorsement interview with the @PennLive editorial board – you can watch the whole thing below. Dr. Oz skipped it. I had a stroke, and I showed up. What’s your excuse @DrOz?”
Today’s agenda
The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection will have another hearing today. It could be the committee’s final public hearing.
The Washington Post’s Carol D. Leonnig and Jacqueline Alemany report that the hearing “is expected to highlight newly obtained Secret Service records showing how President Donald Trump was repeatedly alerted to brewing violence that day, and he still sought to stoke the conflict.”
Leonnig and Alemany added, “The committee plans to share in Thursday’s hearing new video footage and internal Secret Service emails that appear to corroborate parts of the most startling inside accounts of that day, said the people briefed, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal records. Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified in June that Trump was briefed on Jan. 6 that some of his supporters were armed for battle, demanded they be allowed into his rally and insisted he wanted to lead them on their march to the Capitol.”
For more, check out MSNBC’s Ja'han Jones with “Here's what to watch for in Thursday's 'final' Jan. 6 hearing.”
Gannett troubles
Another grim day at Gannett. Poynter’s Angela Fu reports that Gannett will require employees to take one week of unpaid leave in December and that they are seeking volunteers for buyouts. In addition, the company has paused overall hiring and will temporarily suspend making contributions to employee 401(k) accounts starting later this month.
In a staffwide email, Gannett CEO Mike Reed said, “These are truly challenging times. The company continues to face headwinds and uncertainty from the deteriorating macroeconomic environment which has led the executive team to take further immediate action.”
Gannett is the nation’s largest newspaper chain with more than 200 print papers. Read Fu’s story for more details.
Kanye West’s comments will not air
“The Shop” — the former HBO show that now airs on YouTube and is run by LeBron James and Maverick Carter — will not air an episode that was taped because of comments made by guest Kanye West.
In a statement to Andscape’s Justin Tinsley, Carter said:
“Yesterday we taped an episode of The Shop with Kanye West. Kanye was booked weeks ago and, after talking to Kanye directly the day before we taped, I believed he was capable of a respectful discussion and he was ready to address all his recent comments. Unfortunately, he used The Shop to reiterate more hate speech and extremely dangerous stereotypes.
“We have made the decision not to air this episode or any of Kanye’s remarks. While The Shop embraces thoughtful discourse and differing opinions, we have zero tolerance for hate speech of any kind and will never allow our channels to be used to promote hate.
“I take full responsibility for believing Kanye wanted a different conversation and apologize to our guests and crew. Hate speech should never have an audience.”
Tinsley reports that sources told him that West doubled down on his recent anti-Semitic remarks. Tinsley said that James was not at the taping of the episode.
As Awful Announcing’s Andrew Bucholtz notes it’s good that “The Shop” killed the episode. “But,” Bucholtz wrote, “their decision to give West a potential platform after his recent remarks is certainly an interesting one.”
Saying the right thing
