NBC News President Calls Obama and Romney 'Lazy', Will Andrea Mitchell Ask Him to Take it Back?
MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell last week was so shocked that John Sununu called President Obama "lazy," she actually asked him to take it back.
Poynter.org reported moments ago that Mitchell's boss, NBC News President Steve Capus, called both presidential candidates "lazy" on Monday (video follows with partial transcript and commentary):
Monday night, at the Edward R. Murrow Awards ceremony, NBC News President Steve Capus asked both campaigns to stop using clips from newscasts in their ads.
Capus said:
While we’re hard at work telling the story of the election, I’d like to take a minute — and I think you’ll enjoy this part — to urge the candidates and campaigns to do a better job of telling their own story. In this election cycle, we have seen the campaigns take advantage of and misrepresent journalists in their advertisements, pulling short soundbites and in some cases, taking that reporting out of context for the sake of driving a different message. NBC News has dealt with this issue with both candidates, and this has to stop.
It’s not fair for our journalists and producers and it’s not fair to our citizens and it’s just lazy. I know that campaigns want to be associated with Tom Brokaw and Andrea Mitchell and Brian Williams in their commercials. But let’s be honest. That’s good company, but those folks are journalists and they do not endorse this message. Tonight, while I’m among all of my colleagues and acquaintances, I’d encourage all of you to join us in this effort to ask the campaigns to stop — respectfully — ask them to stop using news material in their advertising.
Yet when Sununu called Obama lazy after his terrible debate performance last week, Mitchell asked him to take it back:
In fact, MSNBC commentators absolutely lambasted Sununu for his remarks calling them racist.
As such, is Mitchell going to reprimand her boss for doing the same thing?
Or is it okay for the President of NBC News to call Obama lazy but not Romney surrogates?
