Meet the Press
Kristen Welker is the newest moderator of the longest running television program on-air, NBC’s Meet the Press. Welker follows a long line of knowledgeable journalists on the show, from Lawrence Spivak to Bill Monroe to Garrick Utley. Most famous was Tim Russert, who was the true voice of American political reporting in his seventeen years as the moderator. “If it’s Sunday, it’s Meet the Press”, and “Go Bills!!” were his watch words. He guided us through the Clinton impeachment, the 2000 Presidential election turmoil, and 9-11, with Russert’s famous interview with Vice President Dick Cheney and the “undisclosed location”.
Russert was in the midst of getting ready for the 2008 election and Barack Obama, the first Black man to have a possibility of winning, when he died of a heart attack at his desk. For those Americans, like me, who depend on Meet the Press, the loss of Russert’s expertise (2000 – “It’s Florida, Florida, Florida”) was devastating. Retired network anchor Tom Brokaw took the chair for the remainder of that year, then reporter David Gregory took on the responsibility.
Alternate Facts
But Gregory didn’t live up to the gravitas of Russert, nor did he have the personality. After six years, Gregory was removed and NBC’s political director, Chuck Todd took the reins. Todd was brought into the Meet the Press operation by Russert, and had the depth in political expertise for the job. He held the seat for nine years, in an era when news broadcasting went from four major voices, to many dozens streaming every form of ideology.
Todd’s style was different. He clearly believed that his viewers tuned in to hear his “guests” rather than himself, and he allowed them to speak. Todd wasn’t often combative. He didn’t always counter his “guest’s” assertions. It felt like he knew that his audience was smart enough to figure out “the spin” on their own.
But Todd’s era on Meet the Press marked a sea change in American political journalism. It occurred on January 22, 2017, the Sunday after Trump’s inauguration. Todd pointed out the obvious to Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway, that the Trump White House was grossly overestimating the inaugural crowd. Conway countered that Todd had his “facts”, and that she had ”alternate facts”.
The Welker Era
Political interviews were no longer a matter of trying to “spin” the facts to your benefit. It now became a place where facts were created from “whole cloth”. Todd’s intellectual approach often fell flat against the lies (alternate facts) of some of his “guests”. The frustration seemed to wear on him, and he finally left in 2023, beginning the Kristen Welker era.
Welker, the former NBC Chief White House Correspondent and Sunday Today anchor, took a different approach. When a “guest” used an alternate fact, Welker wouldn’t directly challenge them. But, she would preface her next question with a “fact check”, giving her audience a choice of fiction versus fact without a direct argument on each point. It was often frustrating to watch as she seemed to let guests go on with fictions. But it did keep Meet the Press from just becoming a “shout fest” between one side and the other.
Today is a dangerous era for “facts”. “The Right” is co-opting independent journalism by buying the corporations that run them, then demanding editorial control. Bastions of independence: The Washington Post, CBS News, CNN, and countless local stations are now directed to represent “alternate facts” as real. And they’re doing it, or losing their jobs. Some of the best political journalists of our time are on the streets. Scott Pelley at CBS is only the most recent example.
Wisconsin
All of that is the background for Welker’s interview of Donald Trump in Wisconsin last week. They met in a “barn” (it was a trip to reach out to farmers). Old John Deere equipment was in the background as she sat across from the President of the United States. It was a difficult situation. Heavy rain pounded on the tin roof, making it difficult to hear. Sometimes what seemed like two people shouting at each other was simply both trying to hear each other. The microphones isolated their voices for the audience, but not for their own ears.
And Welker did something that most journalists fail to do. She fact-checked the President in real time, asking him over and over again where the evidence was for his claims of election fraud. Whether Trump was unprepared for challenge, or simply to used to “softball interviews”, he got angry. He lashed out at the media, and did what has become a MAGA trademark. He claimed that the corporations, like NBC, CBS and ABC were out to get him. In fact, the Right has made it a point to buy and demand the media favor him.
He called the media, and Welker, either corrupt or stupid. She countered that she was just a journalist, doing her job. That inflamed his anger.
Mic Drop
But the ultimate turn around in the interview came when Trump claimed that the Insurrectionists deserved compensation for their losses after January 6th. He said that they were beaten by thugs, some committed suicide, and were directed to attack the Capitol by the FBI. Welker corrected him. The “thugs” weren’t the Capitol Police, but the insurrectionists themselves. The suicides were among those same Police, devastated after hours of medieval-like battle on the steps.
Donald Trump isn’t questioned, and he isn’t corrected. He dramatically ended the interview, ripped off the microphone, stepped on it, then walked off the set.
Kudos to Kristen. She refused to accept “alternate facts”. Welker held Trump, the President, to a standard of truth he isn’t used to. She did put herself and NBC in the crosshairs of potential government retribution. But she held to a standard of journalism rapidly disappearing in our “post-truth” world.
I’m sure Chuck Todd is proud. And I’m sure, somewhere in Buffalo’s version of heaven, Tim Russert is too.
