When Harris went shopping in S.C., did reporters get too chummy?

By Tom Jones
Poynter Institute

It’s not the worst case of biased reporting ever seen. No one deserves to be fired or suspended.
But it wasn’t a good look, either.

On Saturday, three network political reporters — CNN’s Maeve Reston, NBC’s Ali Vitali and CBS’ Caitlin Huey-Burns — followed California senator and presidential hopeful Kamala Harris to a boutique in Columbia during one of her campaign stops in South Carolina.

Harris tried on clothes and the three reporters seemed to be more than objective journalists covering a story. They were there to follow Harris on the campaign trail, and there’s nothing wrong with that. That’s what reporters do.

What came off as inappropriate, however, was how the reporters engaged with Harris during the shopping — laughing and pointing out clothes to try on.

Huey-Burns tweeted: “When the campaign trail takes you to a boutique, and @MaeveReston spots a great sequined jacket for @KamalaHarris to try on. #campaingfashionreport”

Reston tweeted: “We kind of forced @kamalaharris to try on this awesome oversized rainbow sequin jacket … She snapped it up. @alivatali perfectly named it as ‘Mardi Gras Jacket’ #2020 #SouthCarolina #CampaignFashionReport”

This was a just a portion of what took place. That did not go over well with Fox News’ Brit Hume, who tweeted: “This is just embarrassing. So now journalists are going shopping with Harris, helping pick out clothes and then putting out glowing tweets about it.”

Many other political observers, mostly from conservative organizations, also were critical.

Michael Barbaro, host of the New York Times’ The Daily podcast, responded to Hume by tweeting that reporters hung out while 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney went shopping. “The reporters covering Romney went shopping with him as well in 2012. I was there. He bought his wife a white puffy coat. It was very sweet. What’s the problem with reporters covering Harris as she stops by local businesses?”

NBC reporter Kasie Hunt tweeted that no one seemed to have an issue when reporters on the campaign trail covered Romney going jet-skiing or Scott Walker riding motorcycles or Lindsey Graham skeet-shooting.

But the activity wasn’t the issue. Being there wasn’t the issue. The problem was the reporters appeared a little too chummy with Harris. The mere appearance of that is enough to damage their credibility, as well as others covering Harris.

In another tweet, Hume wrote (and he’s right) that the incident “wasn’t coverage, it was participation.”

These are super-sensitive times in our country. The spotlight on the media, especially when it comes to covering national politics, has never been brighter. Scrutiny has never been more intense. The press continues to fight the perception of media bias each day.

Those in the media must be acutely aware of how they come off at all times — a fact that Reston, Vitali and Huey-Burns might have forgotten while following Harris.

Author: Stephan Drew

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