Newsman was tough on Kennedy
In researching a non-election related topic recently, we reread the story of CBS newsman Roger Mudd’s 1979 interview with Ted Kennedy ahead of the announcement that the Massachusetts senator would challenge President Jimmy Carter in the 1980 Democratic primary.
Mudd was a Kennedy family friend, but he didn’t shy away from asking tough questions, including about the alcoholism of Kennedy’s then-wife, their troubled marriage and the senator’s 1969 car accident in which a young staff member was killed. When the senator evaded, Mudd bore in, seeking answers.
We couldn’t help contrasting that to the first sit-down interview by news anchor Dana Bash with Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris on CNN Thursday night.
The run time of the interview, not including commercials, was less than 20 minutes. The current vice president was not asked many vital questions about her plans, and her answers were vague on the questions she was asked. And instead of a solo interview, which she had promised to do before the end of the month, she had her vice presidential candidate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, to deflect some of the limited time.