Howard Kurtz reacts to Chuck Todd apology: ‘Lame explanation,’ suspicious about media mistakes
‘Media Buzz’ host Howard Kurtz reacts to NBC’s Chuck Todd apologizing for airing misleading clip of Attorney General William Barr.
NBC News anchor Chuck Todd faced heavy backlash from the left for having a Republican as part of a panel discussion with liberal journalists.
On Sunday's installment of "Meet the Press," Todd had his guests to discuss the latest headlines. Among them were NBC News chief White House correspondent Hallie Jackson, New York Times reporter Michael Schmidt, and PBS NewsHour correspondent Yamiche Alcindor. Former North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican, was also on the panel.
McCrory's inclusion in the "Meet the Press" panel didn't sit well with "The Daily Show" producer Matt Negrin.
"For the third time *this month* @chucktodd has put a Republican on its PANEL OF JOURNALISTS and not included a Democrat," Negrin reacted. "This is open bias. @MeetThePress is a right-wing show."
Negrin, who appears to be a longtime critic of the long-running NBC news program, previously called out Todd's "right-wing propaganda" for having other panels he perceived were too right-leaning. On August 9, Todd had National Review editor Rich Lowry with MSNBC anchor Joshua Johnson and NBC News correspondent Kasie Hunt. And on August 23, he had former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, with NBC correspondent Kristen Welker and Wall Street Journal editor Gerald Seib.
"This is one of the most disgusting displays of bias on a top-rated mainstream news show," Negrin wrote. "Not a single Democrat is allowed on this right-leaning panel to spread GOP talking points completely unchecked."
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In his posts, Negrin questioned why there was not more coverage of what he identified as a trend and questioned the bias of the show. His tweets fueled outrage towards NBC's star anchor.
"It’s even worse than that," former Obama adviser Eric Schultz tweeted. It "puts the journalists in the position of representing the Democratic viewpoint, which only reinforces the right’s bogus claim of bias."
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Others had similar complaints.
"Not only is it openly biased, but it also plays into the right-wing false accusation that because members of the press state FACTS, and Democrats agree with FACTS, they must be liberal," Democratic strategist Sacha Haworth similarly reacted. "Having a conservative present an OPPOSING SIDE TO FACTS is ludicrous."
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Others called for Todd's firing and some even suggested that he should be replaced by his MSNBC colleague Nicolle Wallace, who notably is a former White House aide for George W. Bush and McCain campaign adviser.
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