WEBVTT - Dear Future Journalists 0:00:01.000 --> 0:00:06.000 This is the most traumatic podcast ever. And iHeartRadio podcast. 0:00:07.920 --> 0:00:09.600 Chris Harrison and Lauren z E Ma Comedy from the 0:00:09.640 --> 0:00:13.680 home office in Austin, Texas. And Okay, we're going to 0:00:13.720 --> 0:00:16.880 dip our toe into it, just to dip. 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:19.680 Just testing the water, just to see how it feels. 0:00:19.840 --> 0:00:23.760 We're gonna get into this political arena. And it's funny 0:00:23.760 --> 0:00:26.040 that we even have to say that with trepidation these days, 0:00:26.040 --> 0:00:28.639 because it says a lot about where we are. And 0:00:28.800 --> 0:00:30.920 maybe it's because we're all passionate and that's a good thing, 0:00:30.960 --> 0:00:33.080 and hopefully you do have a passion for what's going 0:00:33.159 --> 0:00:35.320 on in the political arena right now. We obviously have 0:00:36.520 --> 0:00:39.839 a huge election coming up, maybe the biggest ever, or 0:00:39.880 --> 0:00:42.120 maybe just feels like it's the biggest ever, because that's 0:00:42.159 --> 0:00:44.920 the way the media and the press wanteds to feel, 0:00:44.960 --> 0:00:47.760 because that's what drives viewership. But one thing that Lauren 0:00:47.760 --> 0:00:50.800 and I wanted to dip our toe into is the 0:00:50.880 --> 0:00:53.199 debate last week, and it wasn't We're not going to 0:00:53.240 --> 0:00:56.560 get into who won, who lost, etc. You guys can 0:00:56.600 --> 0:00:59.360 debate that yourselves, and I'm sure you have your own opinions, 0:00:59.400 --> 0:01:01.600 and Laura and I have of our own opinions. What 0:01:01.720 --> 0:01:04.360 we love and what Lauren and I both grew up 0:01:04.400 --> 0:01:08.560 on is journalism and it's what struck us the most 0:01:08.880 --> 0:01:11.720 after that debate, and it's what has really the reason 0:01:11.760 --> 0:01:13.480 we're talking about it. It's like, oh, guys, that debate was 0:01:13.560 --> 0:01:17.640 last week, Well it has carried on. What's happened. What 0:01:17.720 --> 0:01:21.000 happened in that debate last week is really you're seeing 0:01:21.000 --> 0:01:24.759 the ramifications and the ripple effects throughout this week, into 0:01:24.800 --> 0:01:27.520 the Sunday morning shows that I watched, into the interviews 0:01:27.520 --> 0:01:29.760 and the things that are happening on social media now. 0:01:29.880 --> 0:01:32.800 And that's what has driven the conversation in our house 0:01:32.840 --> 0:01:35.800 between Lauren and I, both of us journalism students, both 0:01:35.800 --> 0:01:38.840 of us study journalism, love journalism. We talk about it 0:01:38.880 --> 0:01:42.080 a lot, and so the more we start talking about this, 0:01:42.160 --> 0:01:45.040 and especially after I saw the Sunday morning shows, I'm like, babe, 0:01:45.040 --> 0:01:47.920 we got to talk about this. Oh yeah, this was fascinating. 0:01:48.000 --> 0:01:50.760 And another big thing happened on Sunday. I mean, there 0:01:50.880 --> 0:01:55.040 was a second apparent assassination attempt on a former president 0:01:55.080 --> 0:01:58.240 of the United States, and there's a journalistic angle we 0:01:58.320 --> 0:02:01.080 can get in there too, about how much that was 0:02:01.200 --> 0:02:04.200 covered or not. I mean, we were watching the Emmys 0:02:04.240 --> 0:02:06.040 on Sunday night and I turned to you and said, 0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:09.200 you know what's wild. Yeah, just a few years ago, 0:02:09.720 --> 0:02:14.040 if there had been an assassination attempt on a recent 0:02:14.240 --> 0:02:18.760 and any former president and a presidential candidate, it would 0:02:18.760 --> 0:02:21.600 have affected the Awards show. It would have been brought up. 0:02:21.800 --> 0:02:24.760 I would venture to say, the hosts would have a set, 0:02:24.800 --> 0:02:27.640 opened the show and everybody, it's a heavy night in 0:02:27.680 --> 0:02:28.480 America tonight. 0:02:28.560 --> 0:02:31.000 But I know the execs, I know they definitely would 0:02:31.040 --> 0:02:33.840 have said, let's start the show. We got to say something. 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:36.600 This is one of the biggest news events in the world. 0:02:37.040 --> 0:02:40.280 A president has been they attempt to assassinate a president 0:02:40.320 --> 0:02:42.440 of the United States of America. 0:02:41.919 --> 0:02:43.560 And we would have then they would have said, but 0:02:43.560 --> 0:02:45.840 we're all here together tonight, and we're going to, you know, 0:02:45.919 --> 0:02:48.080 do what we do best and try to find joy 0:02:48.120 --> 0:02:52.359 together and safety and being together, and we're going to 0:02:52.400 --> 0:02:54.120 try to make you laugh and have some fun tonight 0:02:54.160 --> 0:02:56.799 and go on as a country and be strong. That 0:02:56.840 --> 0:02:59.200 did not happen Sunday night. So that's another sort of 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:03.800 interesting just journalistic and media note. I think that I 0:03:03.960 --> 0:03:08.040 had and you know, you're right, there's been so much 0:03:08.240 --> 0:03:10.080 and how much you know, coverage that s getting or not. 0:03:10.160 --> 0:03:12.519 I mean, it's a little it's a little scary to me, 0:03:12.600 --> 0:03:14.760 however your feelings are. And we are not going to 0:03:14.760 --> 0:03:17.240 get into her who we're endorsing or not. We're not 0:03:17.280 --> 0:03:19.000 going to tell you who to vote for or not. 0:03:19.360 --> 0:03:19.720 I don't know. 0:03:19.720 --> 0:03:21.919 We're all just moving pretty quickly through the news cycle. 0:03:21.960 --> 0:03:24.519 And I think we've been talking about that really since 0:03:25.040 --> 0:03:28.200 the Trump Biden debate, is just how quickly the news 0:03:28.200 --> 0:03:32.359 cycle moves now. I mean the first assassination attempt, we 0:03:32.360 --> 0:03:33.480 were passed pretty fast. 0:03:33.840 --> 0:03:37.520 I'm fifty three years old. I've almost now, in the 0:03:37.560 --> 0:03:40.880 last couple of months, have almost doubled assassination attempts in 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:41.480 my lifetime. 0:03:41.560 --> 0:03:42.120 It's wild. 0:03:42.120 --> 0:03:44.080 And presidents of the United States. You know, I was 0:03:44.080 --> 0:03:47.120 not alive for the Kennedy assassination, so I mean, I 0:03:47.280 --> 0:03:51.480 remember when Reagan was shot, and now I'm watching two 0:03:51.640 --> 0:03:54.520 assassination attempts. And it's in the fact that that wasn't 0:03:54.640 --> 0:03:56.680 No one mentioned that on the red carpet last night, 0:03:56.680 --> 0:04:00.160 as you said, no one, Yes, there were no question. 0:04:00.400 --> 0:04:02.240 At the Grammys a few years ago, I was there 0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:05.960 on the Grammy's red carpet for et and horribly that 0:04:06.080 --> 0:04:09.000 was when the Kobe Bryant helicopter crash happened. And we 0:04:09.120 --> 0:04:12.520 instantly went and I mean, Kobe was in entertainment, but 0:04:12.560 --> 0:04:14.240 he's an athlete, you know, It's not like it was 0:04:14.280 --> 0:04:14.800 an actor. 0:04:14.840 --> 0:04:17.839 But we instantly were like, we have to ask people 0:04:17.880 --> 0:04:18.240 about this. 0:04:18.279 --> 0:04:19.960 And it was really a hard thing to do as 0:04:20.000 --> 0:04:23.560 a reporter because people are there for this beautiful night. 0:04:23.880 --> 0:04:26.520 We were even breaking the news to some people, but 0:04:26.920 --> 0:04:29.280 we said, we have to ask them about this. And 0:04:29.320 --> 0:04:31.160 I don't think that happened last night that any of 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:34.800 the reporters. I didn't see anybody asking about an assassination. 0:04:34.839 --> 0:04:36.720 It's aptitude, it was, and what does that say about 0:04:36.760 --> 0:04:38.479 us as a people? What does that say about us 0:04:38.520 --> 0:04:41.800 as a society as a country right now? And the 0:04:41.880 --> 0:04:45.680 reason that I brought up the debate is last week 0:04:46.000 --> 0:04:50.360 ABC hosted the debate. The debate moderators were David Muir, 0:04:50.440 --> 0:04:53.040 who is the head and the face and the hair 0:04:53.520 --> 0:04:56.520 of ABC News right now, Yes have great hair, and 0:04:56.760 --> 0:04:59.840 Lindsey Davis, a lesser known I think reporter at a 0:05:00.440 --> 0:05:04.120 news and so the two of them moderated the debate 0:05:05.240 --> 0:05:12.440 between Trump and Kamala Harris. And again, don't care who 0:05:12.440 --> 0:05:14.760 you think one or lost, nor should you care who 0:05:14.800 --> 0:05:19.680 I think one or lost. But what I found debatable 0:05:20.520 --> 0:05:26.040 pun intended, was the lack of journalistic integrity, just the 0:05:26.120 --> 0:05:31.000 lack of journalism. It was embarrassing, the display of journalism. 0:05:31.480 --> 0:05:35.279 And I know, whether you sit on the right or 0:05:35.320 --> 0:05:41.120 the left, has this deep moving feeling of who of 0:05:41.200 --> 0:05:44.400 how you think my last comments probably weigh on you, 0:05:44.839 --> 0:05:49.560 but regardless, and I somehow we have to be able 0:05:49.600 --> 0:05:54.320 to dissect this pull away, the politics of it, and 0:05:54.400 --> 0:05:57.560 just look at the journalistic integrity that we are now 0:05:57.640 --> 0:06:02.160 lacking in this country, and it's really glaring. The way 0:06:02.279 --> 0:06:08.240 David Muhr and Lindsay Davis behaved was abysmal, embarrassing, and 0:06:08.320 --> 0:06:11.479 disgusting as a journalist. And that's just purely as a journalist. 0:06:11.480 --> 0:06:15.039 Now as a Republican Democrat, I don't care. You can't 0:06:15.080 --> 0:06:18.080 have what we had last week, and the ramifications of 0:06:18.120 --> 0:06:23.159 that are now being felt dramatically, And maybe maybe that 0:06:23.360 --> 0:06:25.760 was you know, how we say there's this pivot point, 0:06:26.000 --> 0:06:29.880 there's this tipping point, and things are swinging. Things have 0:06:29.920 --> 0:06:33.480 started swinging back the other way because of their behavior 0:06:34.040 --> 0:06:38.560 and what ABC News put on display, which was unbelievably 0:06:39.040 --> 0:06:41.320 every journal This should be studied in school. Is how 0:06:41.320 --> 0:06:42.360 embarrassing this was. 0:06:42.640 --> 0:06:46.320 And to really just put in simple terms what you're 0:06:46.320 --> 0:06:49.280 talking about, Sara on the same page. You mean that 0:06:49.520 --> 0:06:55.120 they didn't fact check both sides. You mean the way 0:06:55.160 --> 0:06:58.160 the questions were asked. I'm speaking for you, but yeah, no, 0:06:58.279 --> 0:07:02.760 all these are Yeah, I mean the attitude of like 0:07:03.200 --> 0:07:07.719 sort of the the way things were phrased positive versus 0:07:07.720 --> 0:07:11.640 negative between the two candidates, and when they were being 0:07:11.680 --> 0:07:19.920 asked questions. I was watching it going. I mean, look again, 0:07:19.960 --> 0:07:21.880 we won't get into who won or lost. I do 0:07:21.960 --> 0:07:29.880 think that one candidate got pretty riled up and the 0:07:29.920 --> 0:07:33.600 other candidate was a lot more polished in her presentation. 0:07:33.800 --> 0:07:37.680 And you know who I'm talking about, But I. 0:07:37.240 --> 0:07:41.160 Think that I was watching it going, but they're kind 0:07:41.160 --> 0:07:46.600 of only coming at him, and I my gauge and 0:07:46.640 --> 0:07:48.760 our gauge at ET used to be like, look, sometimes 0:07:48.800 --> 0:07:52.160 it's hard because you're in media. Most people in big 0:07:52.200 --> 0:07:55.240 media organizations are coastal. They're you know, they're either in 0:07:55.480 --> 0:07:58.480 LA or New York. And we used to try to say, remember, 0:07:58.520 --> 0:08:01.160 our audience is the middle of the country and what 0:08:01.240 --> 0:08:03.640 are they watching and how what are they interested in? 0:08:03.720 --> 0:08:05.800 We need to be in touch with them, so I 0:08:06.120 --> 0:08:08.160 you know, I'm texting like my friends and the debate 0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:13.080 women who live in Missouri and Texas, and you know, 0:08:13.600 --> 0:08:17.720 I'm in Iowa, the middle of the country, and many 0:08:17.720 --> 0:08:22.840 of them are Kamala supporters. But they were going, I'm 0:08:23.160 --> 0:08:26.760 this debate isn't feeling two sided. And I think it 0:08:26.840 --> 0:08:29.600 was a mistake on ABC's part because a lot of 0:08:29.640 --> 0:08:33.040 people had just watched Biden and Trump on CNN, and 0:08:33.120 --> 0:08:36.559 CNN handled it much better. They kept it neutral. They 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:39.640 just asked the questions. They didn't fact check at all, 0:08:39.920 --> 0:08:42.199 which I think was the right choice, because it is 0:08:42.720 --> 0:08:44.760 it is too hard to fact check in the moment. 0:08:44.800 --> 0:08:46.720 It is it's only an hour and a half. Things 0:08:46.720 --> 0:08:49.480 are happening so quickly, you're going back and forth, you're listening. 0:08:49.520 --> 0:08:51.520 It's I just think it's too hard to fact check 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:55.600 in the moment. And when you're only fact checking one person, 0:08:55.960 --> 0:09:00.440 well that's just a glaring obvious bias. Whatever you're politically is, 0:09:00.840 --> 0:09:02.680 whatever it is, it's making it look like you lean 0:09:02.720 --> 0:09:06.200 one way. And as journalists, I know that our media 0:09:06.240 --> 0:09:13.640 has gotten so so like everybody has a brand, you know, 0:09:14.080 --> 0:09:17.680 Fox is this way or MSNBC's this way. But when 0:09:17.720 --> 0:09:22.800 you're conducting a debate between two presidential candidates, this is 0:09:22.840 --> 0:09:26.320 a big deal. This is a big stage. This matters, 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:29.320 and I thought that they handled it really, really poorly. 0:09:41.720 --> 0:09:44.760 My guess is there will be financial ramifications. I know 0:09:44.880 --> 0:09:50.760 there are viewer ramifications that people have. I can't wait 0:09:50.840 --> 0:09:54.800 for more ratings to come out. I find it interesting 0:09:54.880 --> 0:09:58.840 that they torpedo David Muir's career this way. David, and 0:09:58.880 --> 0:10:01.040 maybe he did it on his own, but I doubt 0:10:01.040 --> 0:10:03.280 it because that's not usually how these things work. It's 0:10:03.360 --> 0:10:05.600 it comes from higher up, and that the executives, and 0:10:06.760 --> 0:10:09.439 you know, the president of ABC who is best friends 0:10:09.480 --> 0:10:11.280 with Kamala Harris. I mean the way this started out, 0:10:11.320 --> 0:10:14.440 and again there is an affidavit out. We're going to 0:10:14.440 --> 0:10:16.800 talk about that here in a little bit and we'll 0:10:16.800 --> 0:10:19.520 read through that. But Dana Walden, who's the president of ABC, 0:10:20.120 --> 0:10:23.120 in charge of ABC News and in charge of the debate, 0:10:23.960 --> 0:10:27.439 is best friends with Kamala Harris. They are best friends. 0:10:28.200 --> 0:10:32.080 She introduced Kamala to her husband. That's how they met. 0:10:32.520 --> 0:10:35.080 I was trying to put myself in Dana Walden's shoes, 0:10:35.720 --> 0:10:41.280 and the if my best friend was running for president, 0:10:42.520 --> 0:10:46.160 it is impossible for me to be unbiased. It's impossible. 0:10:46.240 --> 0:10:48.400 It's my best friend and my best friend in the world. 0:10:48.600 --> 0:10:50.560 I was at your wedding, I've watched your kids be born. 0:10:50.920 --> 0:10:53.679 It's I don't blame her for being biased. You should 0:10:53.720 --> 0:10:56.840 be biased. We know who she's voting for. We know 0:10:56.880 --> 0:10:59.720 who she loves and who she's talking to on the daily, 0:11:00.240 --> 0:11:02.840 who she's giving advice to on how to act and 0:11:02.880 --> 0:11:05.120 how to be in these speeches and debates and how 0:11:05.120 --> 0:11:08.480 to handle Trump. So this isn't breaking news that there's 0:11:08.520 --> 0:11:12.280 a bias. It's just I can't believe that we all 0:11:12.320 --> 0:11:15.520 just sat back and watched this unfold and then in 0:11:15.559 --> 0:11:18.480 any way our surprise that when the debate happened on 0:11:18.520 --> 0:11:22.360 her network there was a very glaring bias. It's like, 0:11:22.400 --> 0:11:25.360 we can't have one plus one and we get two 0:11:25.559 --> 0:11:27.520 and go, oh, that's a shock. 0:11:27.760 --> 0:11:32.000 See I disagree. I think it's possible. I just think 0:11:32.040 --> 0:11:36.120 you have to own it. And the reason I say 0:11:36.120 --> 0:11:38.440 I think it's possible, and maybe it's from a hopeful place, 0:11:38.840 --> 0:11:43.520 but in this world, I think it's impossible for people 0:11:43.559 --> 0:11:43.880 to not. 0:11:43.920 --> 0:11:45.839 Know each other. Like by that, I mean when you're 0:11:45.880 --> 0:11:47.520 talking about the world of like. 0:11:49.080 --> 0:11:53.839 Really high up media executives, politicians, Like this is an 0:11:53.840 --> 0:11:56.280 elite class of people where people. 0:11:56.040 --> 0:11:57.760 Are going to know each other and it's small circles. 0:11:57.800 --> 0:11:58.720 Yeah, that's what I'm saying. 0:11:58.760 --> 0:12:01.120 They meet each other at party, they introduce each other 0:12:01.120 --> 0:12:03.840 to people, like Trump knows a bunch of people high up, 0:12:03.880 --> 0:12:06.360 but he's I mean, I think him and Sean Hannity 0:12:06.400 --> 0:12:09.480 are pretty good friends at Fox, Like after the assassination attempt, 0:12:09.480 --> 0:12:11.360 Sean said he'd talked to the President and spoke to 0:12:11.400 --> 0:12:15.040 the president like, You're gonna have relationships with people because 0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:19.439 you cover them intimately as reporters. But what you have 0:12:19.520 --> 0:12:22.640 to do when you're on a stage is you have 0:12:22.720 --> 0:12:26.439 to put that aside. And I don't know what the 0:12:26.440 --> 0:12:29.480 inner workings were happening at ABC, but I do know 0:12:29.559 --> 0:12:32.280 that Dana Walden was asked about this on the red 0:12:32.280 --> 0:12:33.840 carpet at the Emmy's by Mark Malkin. 0:12:33.920 --> 0:12:36.559 He's a reporter with Variety. Mark and I were always friendly, 0:12:36.559 --> 0:12:37.520 and I'm glad he asked her this. 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:39.680 Yeah, Mark, kudos to you for being a journalist and 0:12:39.720 --> 0:12:40.520 asking the question. 0:12:40.720 --> 0:12:44.280 He asked her, what you know people are I think 0:12:44.320 --> 0:12:46.559 you put it people on the far right, which I 0:12:46.559 --> 0:12:48.240 would disagree with a little bit. I think more than 0:12:48.280 --> 0:12:52.320 that are concerned that there was a bias in the debate. 0:12:52.360 --> 0:12:56.440 And I'm paraphrasing him here and she said, and I'm 0:12:56.760 --> 0:13:00.640 borderline direct quoting her here. She said, I don't even 0:13:00.679 --> 0:13:04.120 want to dignify that with an answer. And I thought 0:13:04.160 --> 0:13:08.720 that was arrogant. Dignify that with an answer. You run 0:13:08.760 --> 0:13:12.040 the network. It's known that this candidate is a very 0:13:12.120 --> 0:13:15.720 good friend of yours, and you're talking about the American 0:13:15.760 --> 0:13:18.080 people voting for their next president based on what was 0:13:18.120 --> 0:13:20.280 on your network. You're the ones who got the debate. 0:13:20.360 --> 0:13:23.920 Dignify that with an answer. Address that. And if nothing 0:13:24.160 --> 0:13:28.080 was going awry behind the scenes, if nothing was you know, 0:13:28.200 --> 0:13:30.920 favorable to one person, then you should be able to 0:13:30.960 --> 0:13:33.440 just own that and answer it wholeheartedly and say listen, 0:13:34.000 --> 0:13:36.680 I hear, and we just and you should say, I 0:13:36.760 --> 0:13:39.640 talk to my people behind the scenes. I said, listen, 0:13:39.720 --> 0:13:42.160 you guys, Kama and I have a relationship. I want 0:13:42.200 --> 0:13:44.559 to make sure we treat both people fairly. I want 0:13:44.600 --> 0:13:46.600 to make sure this is really done right. That's what 0:13:46.600 --> 0:13:48.920 you should be saying as an executive, as a leader. 0:13:48.800 --> 0:13:55.319 And that's her answer to that makes the smoke even heavier. 0:13:55.679 --> 0:13:58.320 And where there is that much heavy smoke, now there's fire. 0:13:58.400 --> 0:14:01.199 And so again, I think if you want to seem 0:14:01.240 --> 0:14:04.080 like you are truly an unbiased news organization, which look, 0:14:04.559 --> 0:14:08.320 ABC is notoriously not. They are notoriously not. 0:14:08.480 --> 0:14:09.240 Do you feel that way? 0:14:09.360 --> 0:14:14.640 I know they're not. Well, I mean we can get 0:14:14.760 --> 0:14:15.320 maybe we've. 0:14:15.200 --> 0:14:17.439 Had some personal experience. I see what you're reference. 0:14:17.679 --> 0:14:20.120 I was worn by people. Look, I'll tell you a 0:14:20.160 --> 0:14:22.280 little inside baseball. When I was at ABC, and I 0:14:22.320 --> 0:14:25.280 was there for two decades, there is there's two factions 0:14:25.320 --> 0:14:29.600 to ABC. There's the you know, television side, there's entertainment, 0:14:29.960 --> 0:14:32.120 and then there's the fifty thousand pound gorilla, which was 0:14:32.160 --> 0:14:35.520 always ABC News. And there's a real contentious environment and 0:14:35.600 --> 0:14:40.400 relationship between those two. ABC News is that fifty thousand 0:14:40.400 --> 0:14:44.040 pound gorilla that runs ABC. People have very little say 0:14:44.080 --> 0:14:47.560 over what ABC News does, and so there's already a 0:14:47.720 --> 0:14:52.480 very contentious relationship there and what they pulled off. Again, 0:14:52.480 --> 0:14:54.160 if I was Dana Walton, I would have come out 0:14:54.360 --> 0:14:57.960 because obviously you don't want to seem like you're onlike 0:14:58.000 --> 0:15:01.440 you're biased, and if she had come out before the 0:15:01.440 --> 0:15:04.200 debate said look, I just want to let you guys know, 0:15:04.560 --> 0:15:06.960 I am recusing myself. I have nothing to do with 0:15:07.000 --> 0:15:10.200 this debate. You know, clearly everybody knows where my loyalties lie. 0:15:10.280 --> 0:15:12.800 It's with Kamala. She's a very dear friend. I hope 0:15:12.800 --> 0:15:16.320 she becomes president of the United States. I am recusing myself. 0:15:16.360 --> 0:15:18.840 ABC News will no, I don't know what's going on, 0:15:18.880 --> 0:15:21.440 and even if it's not true, I would have appreciated 0:15:21.480 --> 0:15:26.000 that the fact that even after the mess, that's the 0:15:26.040 --> 0:15:30.680 debacle that was ABC News, when she had the opportunity 0:15:30.760 --> 0:15:33.880 to speak to a very friendly reporter on the red 0:15:33.920 --> 0:15:36.000 carpet to say, I'm not going to even dignify that, 0:15:36.200 --> 0:15:39.520 Like you said, you're a news organization. Not only do 0:15:39.560 --> 0:15:43.640 you need to dignify that, you owe us, that you 0:15:43.760 --> 0:15:47.760 owe that to the country. That's your job. And so yeah, 0:15:47.800 --> 0:15:50.360 to basically stick up your middle finger and say FU 0:15:50.520 --> 0:15:53.680 instead of hey, look, you know, she's my friend, she's 0:15:53.760 --> 0:15:58.520 my girl. But I promise you ABC News is above board. 0:15:58.840 --> 0:16:00.720 How they chose to handle this had nothing to do 0:16:00.760 --> 0:16:04.160 with me. I but what makes me worried. And again 0:16:04.200 --> 0:16:06.720 this is just my maybe it's reality TV brain. I'm 0:16:06.760 --> 0:16:09.960 also a journalist, and I also know I know ABC 0:16:10.000 --> 0:16:12.040 News and I know the way they work. This worries me. 0:16:12.080 --> 0:16:14.360 The Affidavid that came out yesterday. 0:16:14.240 --> 0:16:15.960 Right so, and what. 0:16:15.960 --> 0:16:20.400 Strikes me is that counsel got to her and said, 0:16:20.800 --> 0:16:23.840 do not talk about this because what she did, what 0:16:24.000 --> 0:16:27.080 she really did last night on the red carpet, was 0:16:27.200 --> 0:16:31.600 not put anything in print that she didn't have anything 0:16:31.640 --> 0:16:34.760 to do with this. So it later because if there 0:16:34.760 --> 0:16:40.360 is a whistleblower, and this whistleblower supposedly allegedly has recordings, emails, 0:16:40.360 --> 0:16:43.680 et cetera, and if she is involved in that, she 0:16:43.760 --> 0:16:45.800 would have perjured herself. She would have lied. They have 0:16:45.840 --> 0:16:48.960 her on record. You can't go on record not knowing 0:16:48.960 --> 0:16:51.120 what's out there. If she goes on record and says 0:16:51.240 --> 0:16:54.120 I had nothing to do with this, ABC News had 0:16:54.160 --> 0:16:56.600 nothing to do with this, you know, et cetera, that 0:16:56.640 --> 0:17:00.600 we were completely unbiased. We didn't fix this debate in 0:17:00.640 --> 0:17:05.520 favor of one of the politicians. If she goes on record, 0:17:05.520 --> 0:17:07.240 in the fact that she didn't go on record last 0:17:07.280 --> 0:17:08.960 night makes me you're right. 0:17:10.119 --> 0:17:14.600 Sometimes sometimes your reality TV brain is very helpful. So 0:17:14.760 --> 0:17:19.800 there is this on Twitter. There's this alleged affidavit from 0:17:19.920 --> 0:17:26.159 an employee of ABC News talking about how they saw 0:17:26.359 --> 0:17:29.960 these different biases in the debate, I mean, in the 0:17:30.000 --> 0:17:34.040 way the debate would be handled. And the claims in 0:17:34.119 --> 0:17:41.320 this alleged affidavit are that Harris's team was given access 0:17:41.359 --> 0:17:44.439 to sample questions before the debate, which would be a 0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:48.720 big allegation, that they were told she would be she 0:17:48.760 --> 0:17:52.000 would look different on camera than trumpet a get a 0:17:52.040 --> 0:17:55.199 sized podium better for her, and get visually like a 0:17:55.200 --> 0:18:01.080 better look apparently, and that she was able to take 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:03.440 certain things off the table, was allowed to say some 0:18:03.520 --> 0:18:06.760 topics were restricted, and that the Trump team was never 0:18:06.960 --> 0:18:12.320 given that option. So the affidavit also says that at ABC, 0:18:12.520 --> 0:18:16.240 you know, there's just generally a bias against Trump within 0:18:16.280 --> 0:18:19.080 the organization and that if you are a Trump supporter 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:25.000 you would fear retribution there. So it's circulating on Twitter. 0:18:25.080 --> 0:18:28.240 It's been picked up by big Twitter personalities. Bill Ackman 0:18:28.560 --> 0:18:31.040 tweeted it today and he tagged Bob Iger in the 0:18:31.080 --> 0:18:33.639 tweet and said, Bob address this. Bill Ackman is a 0:18:33.680 --> 0:18:38.800 big successful financial guy, And I mean, especially if she 0:18:38.960 --> 0:18:43.400 was given sample questions that would be an incredible violation. 0:18:43.560 --> 0:18:57.040 To me, what struck me And there was one moment 0:18:57.080 --> 0:18:59.600 in the debate where I thought that it just felt 0:18:59.680 --> 0:19:03.119 too like David Mere and Lindsay Davis were two on 0:19:03.160 --> 0:19:08.000 the ready with the fact check. Why would they have 0:19:08.160 --> 0:19:10.680 talked to a city manager in Ohio, oh about the 0:19:10.720 --> 0:19:13.199 eating the cats like that? That to me, like that 0:19:13.320 --> 0:19:16.119 was like, why would you to fact checked that, like 0:19:16.320 --> 0:19:19.479 unless you knew there was a possibility that was going 0:19:19.520 --> 0:19:22.399 to come. But that was the oddest fact check of all. 0:19:23.600 --> 0:19:26.680 What CNN did was they decided, Jake Tapper and them 0:19:26.680 --> 0:19:29.120 at CNN decided, hey, let's just let this go. We're 0:19:29.160 --> 0:19:31.480 not going to fact check it all because honestly, as 0:19:31.520 --> 0:19:34.200 you said, fact checking in real time is impossible. Honestly, 0:19:34.240 --> 0:19:37.280 fact checking post debate is impossible because now the fact 0:19:37.359 --> 0:19:40.560 checkers are being fact checked and it's very subjective and 0:19:41.000 --> 0:19:43.440 so there's a lot that goes into that. But real 0:19:43.480 --> 0:19:48.800 time fact checking is virtually impossible. And obviously Trump said 0:19:48.840 --> 0:19:51.320 things that weren't true. Kamala Harris said a ton of 0:19:51.359 --> 0:19:55.200 things that weren't true, and that has come to light. 0:19:55.520 --> 0:19:57.600 And what is interesting, and I don't know, if we 0:19:57.600 --> 0:20:00.040 want to talk more about the AFFI David, but the 0:20:00.200 --> 0:20:04.320 ripple effect of this ABC debacle on CNN and now 0:20:04.359 --> 0:20:05.280 even on ABC. 0:20:05.840 --> 0:20:07.919 Well, I was going to say, that's who are we watching. 0:20:08.040 --> 0:20:11.840 We're watching Martha Raddits. George Stephanopolis, who worked in the 0:20:11.840 --> 0:20:14.959 Clinton administration, has a Sunday morning show. But Martha Raddits, 0:20:15.000 --> 0:20:17.600 who is a long time, very good journalist, took over 0:20:17.640 --> 0:20:21.800 that was doing the show yesterday Sunday a couple days ago. 0:20:22.040 --> 0:20:27.919 And what I found interesting is Martha Raddits, And again 0:20:28.000 --> 0:20:30.880 this is just this is my perception. I think there 0:20:30.960 --> 0:20:34.800 is probably that debate probably created a great divide at 0:20:34.800 --> 0:20:38.639 ABC News. My guess is there is turmoil behind the 0:20:38.680 --> 0:20:42.040 scenes at ABC News of real journalists who said, are 0:20:42.080 --> 0:20:45.600 you effing kidding me? That was a joke. You just 0:20:45.800 --> 0:20:50.200 absolutely torpedoed any amount of credibility ABC News had and 0:20:50.240 --> 0:20:53.240 Martha Raddits and some of these journalists are very credible 0:20:53.240 --> 0:20:56.040 and very good at what they do. My guess is 0:20:56.080 --> 0:21:00.199 Martha Raddits went on that show and was like, FI you, 0:21:00.520 --> 0:21:03.040 I'm going to actually do my job. I'm going to 0:21:03.040 --> 0:21:05.679 be a journalist. And she started to the other side 0:21:06.000 --> 0:21:10.800 started calling out Kamala Harris's in consistencies, lies stories, tall 0:21:10.840 --> 0:21:12.359 tales she was telling during the debate. 0:21:12.480 --> 0:21:15.320 I think the biggest one was that Vice President Harris 0:21:15.320 --> 0:21:19.920 said that there were no troops in an active war 0:21:19.920 --> 0:21:22.720 war zones, no American troops and active war zones anywhere 0:21:22.720 --> 0:21:25.520 in the country. And they're actually like a few thousand troops. 0:21:25.520 --> 0:21:29.680 And yes, I shout out to you know the social media, 0:21:30.160 --> 0:21:34.040 real troops posted a video of them watching the debate 0:21:34.280 --> 0:21:35.480 while in an active war zones. 0:21:35.480 --> 0:21:36.359 Said well then who are we? 0:21:36.560 --> 0:21:36.760 Yeah? 0:21:36.960 --> 0:21:40.639 And so Martha had a guest on a governor, a 0:21:40.640 --> 0:21:43.679 Democratic governor, and she said, why would Kamala Harris say that? 0:21:43.760 --> 0:21:46.040 It is a fact. She said, I have covered troops 0:21:46.040 --> 0:21:47.879 and war zones. I know they are American troops and 0:21:47.880 --> 0:21:49.879 war zones right now. Why would she say that? And 0:21:49.920 --> 0:21:52.040 she really seemed I agree with you. This is just 0:21:52.119 --> 0:21:55.840 my perception, but she seemed agitated. And my instant thought 0:21:55.960 --> 0:21:59.280 was there is frustration behind the scenes, because when you're 0:21:59.400 --> 0:22:03.320 a journalist, your reputation matters, and then the reputation of 0:22:03.359 --> 0:22:06.520 the entity workform matters, and it can be very frustrating 0:22:06.520 --> 0:22:08.159 because you and we all know this. 0:22:08.200 --> 0:22:08.960