Making his latest appearance early Friday/late Thursday on the Fox News Channel’s Fox News @ Night, NewsBusters Managing Editor Curtis Houck teamed with District Media Group’s Beverly Hallberg to take down the liberal media for attacking NBC’s Dasha Burns after she pressed Pennsylvania senatorial candidate John Fetterman on his cognitive struggles since he suffered a stroke in May.
Houck picked this random act of journalism in the liberal media as his media highlight of the week, explaining that she did “what the liberal media are refusing to do” in sitting “down with John Fetterman for an in-person interview show” after he had skated by with taped, remote interviews with friendly liberals at MSNBC in Lawrence O’Donnell and Stephanie Ruhle.
“[O]ther than in the fact that she didn’t press him on abortion. You know, she really pinned him down about his fitness, physically and mentally to be a senator from the great State of Pennsylvania,” he added, noting that a Burns interview with Republican Mehmet Oz would air Friday on NBC’s Today.
Teeing off on the liberal media pushback against Burns for repeatedly noting to viewers that Fetterman required closed captioning for the interview and still struggled to understand her, Hallberg noted that “it seems like the one crime you can’t commit in journalism is actually holding a Democrat accountable.”
Hallberg expanded on why this was her media lowlight, noting that while Burns “was accused of bad journalistic ethics, inappropriate” toward a Democrat and that perhaps Burns is terrible at “small talk,” she would have been heralded if she had gone after a Republican.
“But I’m glad she’s holding her ground. She’s standing up for her reporting,” she said.
For his part, Houck said “the media blowback has been incredible” with “the AP, BuzzFeed, The Hill, The New York Times, The View, and The Washington Post” being “just a few of the outlets that have gone after her.”
Houck closed on a high note, crediting NBC for standing by Burns and remarking that he hadn’t “seen the media circle the wagons this much around a story since...the New York Post and Hunter Biden” in fall 2020.
Before talking about Burns and Fetterman, Hallberg and host Trace Gallagher discussed her highlight of the week, which was some revealing comments from a Pfizer executive about its coronavirus vaccine (click “expand”):
GALLAGHER: I mean, this is from a member of the British Prime — British Parliament rather. His name is Rob Roos, and he was questioning a Pfizer exec about the vaccine, and the Pfizer exec then confirms that the vaccine was never tested to see if it would actually prevent transmission of COVID and Roos post this quoting here, “This removes the entire legal basis for the COVID passport. The COVID passport that led to massive institutional discrimination as people lost access to essential parts of society. I find this to be shocking, even criminal.” Pfizer then responded saying, look, we never said we tested it, to see if it would give you a COVID or not or prevented you from getting covered or not. You think that was the whole point. 10s of 1000s of people lost their jobs, and you weren’t allowed to go anywhere, unless you could prove that you could prevent the getting and spreading of COVID, and that was the vaccine, your thoughts?
HALLBERG: Yeah, and people were even called gram and killers in ostracized from society for having questions about the vaccine. And so, this is my media high because this information wasn’t suppressed by social media. We saw this circulated. We saw broadcast news covering it. We’re covering it tonight. And so, I am so thankful for Robert Roos for asking this question. And finally getting to the bottom of it now. It is two years too late. But my hope is that it points to the information of not censoring questions that people have and the importance of the media to hold government officials accountable.
GALLAGHER: It is really, it is phenomenal.
To see the relevant FNC transcript from October 14, click “expand.”
FNC’s Fox News @ Night with Trace Gallagher
October 14, 2022
12:27 a.m. Eastern[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Media Spotlight; Highlights & Lowlights of the Week in News Coverage]
TRACE GALLAGHER: Now, let’s flip the switch. Turn on the Fox News @ Night spotlight on the mainstream media with District Media Group President Beverly Hallberg and NewsBusters Managing Editor Curtis Houck. As always, we have highlights and lowlights of this week’s news coverage. Thank you both for joining us. Beverly, I want to start with yours because I love it. I mean, this is from a member of the British Prime — British Parliament rather. His name is Rob Roos, and he was questioning a Pfizer exec about the vaccine, and the Pfizer exec then confirms that the vaccine was never tested to see if it would actually prevent transmission of COVID and Roos post this quoting here, “This removes the entire legal basis for the COVID passport. The COVID passport that led to massive institutional discrimination as people lost access to essential parts of society. I find this to be shocking, even criminal.” Pfizer then responded saying, look, we never said we tested it, to see if it would give you a COVID or not or prevented you from getting covered or not. You think that was the whole point. 10s of 1000s of people lost their jobs, and you weren’t allowed to go anywhere, unless you could prove that you could prevent the getting and spreading of COVID, and that was the vaccine, your thoughts?
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Media Highs & Lows; European Parliament Member Calls Out Pfizer Executive]
BEVERLY HALLBERG: Yeah, and people were even called gram and killers in ostracized from society for having questions about the vaccine. And so, this is my media high because this information wasn’t suppressed by social media. We saw this circulated. We saw broadcast news covering it. We’re covering it tonight. And so, I am so thankful for Robert Roos for asking this question. And finally getting to the bottom of it now. It is two years too late. But my hope is that it points to the information of not censoring questions that people have and the importance of the media to hold government officials accountable.
GALLAGHER: It is really, it is phenomenal. I want to go now to your, your top one, your high, Curtis. This is NBC correspondent Dasha Burns in her interview with John Fetterman, right, and she says that he was having trouble understanding small talk and needed the questions to be closed captioned. Listen to her and we’ll get your responses.
DASHA BURNS: Walk me through why we need the closed captioning, and how it works?
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Media Highs & Lows; NBC’s Dasha Burns Slammed for Fetterman Interview]
LT. GOV. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA): It’s really just how things happen, maybe because 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, in captioning.
BURNS: And Savannah, we did find that in small talk before the interview without captioning. It seemed; it was difficult for Fetterman to understand our conversation.
GALLAGHER: And she was questioned, by the way, from Savannah Guthrie, kind of called out by Savannah Guthrie for what she was reporting there, your thoughts.
CURTIS HOUCK: Yeah, Trace, I thought that was particularly interesting. But, you know, the reason Dasha Burns is my media highlight of the week is because she is doing what the liberal media are refusing to do. She actually sat down with John Fetterman for an in-person interview show. He’s done a few interviews before with Stephanie Ruhle and Lawrence O’Donnell with MSNBC, but they’ve been taped and remote. So, you really don’t — you’re not sure about what’s going on, how much is edited, other than in the fact that she didn’t press him on abortion. You know, she really pinned him down about his fitness, physically and mentally to be a senator from the great State of Pennsylvania. And it’s one of the closest races on the map. She’s slated to interview Dr. Oz tomorrow morning on Today show. So, if she’s tough on him as well, I think we can chalk that up as a big media win.
GALLAGHER: Yeah, I mean, let’s face it, she was — she was being honest. Both of your lows are kind of the same story. It’s Dasha Burns being trashed by her colleagues, her media colleagues and those around other networks. Watch this, and we’ll get both of your response.
LAURA COATES [on CNN Tonight]: And we’re talking about this interview. We’re talking about what it might mean to voters. But there’s been a really visceral reaction to what’s been happening with the journalist.
NIA-MALIKA HERNDERSON [on CNN Tonight]: This journalist, Dasha Burns, has become part of the story. [SCREEN WIPE] She made a comment. [SCREEN WIPE] It wasn’t clear he —
COATES [on CNN Tonight]: John Fetterman
HERNDERSON [on CNN Tonight]: — meaning Fetterman, was understanding our conversation. And with that, lots of other journalists who had interviewed Fetterman unleashed on her.
SUNNY HOSTIN [on ABC’s The View]: I actually thought it was inappropriate that she said during small talk before our interview.
WHOOPI GOLDBERG [on ABC’s The View]: Maybe she’s bad at small talk, maybe it was her.
HOSTIN [on ABC’s The View]: Yeah, maybe it’s her.
GALLAGHER: Beverly, you’re talking about the left eating their own. I mean, this is — this is unbelievable. You say something about a Democratic candidate, I don’t care who you are, they’re going to come for you.
HALLBERG: Yeah, it seems like the one crime you can’t commit in journalism is actually holding a Democrat accountable. If you make them look bad, all of a sudden, you’re the bad actor. And so, she was accused of bad journalistic ethics, inappropriate. They were saying that maybe her small talk just wasn’t good small talk, and that’s why he didn’t understand. When typically, a journalist, in this scenario, who is able to expose some things that a campaign has not been willing to do so, usually, that journalist is called brave. That journalist is lifted up. But again, unless you were lifting up the Democrat for the right reasons, and not for the wrong reasons, this is the type of treatment you get, sadly. But I’m glad she’s holding her ground. She’s standing up for her reporting.
GALLAGHER: Listen, if I went and interviewed somebody, and noticed something and reported what I noticed, and one of my colleagues called me out, and everybody else did, there’ll be some pushback. Your final thoughts on this, Curtis?
HOUCK: Yes, I just think the media blowback has been incredible. It’s been the AP, BuzzFeed, The Hill, The New York Times, The View, and The Washington Post are just a few of the outlets that have gone after her. To their credit, NBC has stood by her. I can’t take credit for this line. But I haven’t seen the media circle the wagons this much around a story since, I don’t know, the New York Post and Hunter Biden.
GALLAGHER: Yeah, it’s been a while. Curtis, Beverly, thank you both.
HALLBERG: Thank you.
HOUCK: Thanks, Trace.
