It’s fine for broadcast journalists to pose tough questions to political candidates, indeed, that’s exactly what they should do to enable viewers to see how candidates explain themselves. This is an important service to the electorate. But that’s not what Fox News Chief Political Anchor Bret Baier achieved in his interview with Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris on October 17, 2024, her first, and likely only Fox News interview during the presidential campaign. Baier went on the attack against Harris, stepping far beyond the role of tough journalist, repeatedly interrupting her as soon as she began answering questions. Rather than watching a legitimate interview, viewers saw an anchor engaging in a verbal boxing match with the candidate, throwing jab after jab, trying to force her back into her corner of the ring. This was no tough journalist at work; it was a de-facto Trump surrogate on the attack.
After opening with a question on how many illegal immigrants the Biden-Harris Administration had allowed into the United States, Baier gave the Vice President nine seconds before interrupting her, then interrupted her again after seven seconds, only to answer his own question with an estimate of six million people. This was the pattern throughout the interview.
Though Baier claimed he wanted to get to lots of issues, he continued to hammer away at the immigration question for more than 10 of the interview’s 26 minutes.
Harris anticipated Baier’s aggressive tactics. She kept her cool, remained firm in asserting her right to answer, and bridged to some of her key messaging points, as any media trainer would have advised her.
Attempting to put words in Harris’ mouth, Baier asked if Americans who support Donald Trump are stupid. Harris smartly turned the question around, saying, “I would never say that about the American people. And, in fact, if you watch any of his rallies, he’s the one who tends to demean and belittle and diminish the American people. He’s the one who talks about an enemy within.”
Afterwards, on the Fox program Hannity, Baier claimed he needed to repeatedly interrupt because she was late to the interview set and that he was running up against the deadline for turning the interview around for his 6 p.m. show, an explanation that appeared disingenuous.
Baier has worked hard through his career to present a relatively evenhanded report on the Fox News Channel. But in trying to score a knockout against candidate Harris, Baier damaged his reputation as a journalist while doing a disservice to the American electorate. This was not an interview designed to inform, but yet another Fox News effort to play to the political leanings of its audience.