A reporter from Univision’s Atlanta affiliate apparently decided to use his time in front of Press Secretary Jen Psaki as his audition for a position in Stacy Abrams’ gubernatorial campaign.
Watch as Rafael Olavarría psusks up to Psaki at the very end of Friday´s White House press briefing, when she turns her back to the White House press corps to face the reporter over a monitor behind her (this while shuffling pages until settling on the script for the non-spontaneous exchange):
PRESS SECRETARY JEN PSAKI: We have a visitor today. Um, hello. Great meeting you Rafael, um, from Univision. Thanks for joining us. I like your backdrop. What can I answer for you today?
…
RAFAEL OLAVARRIA, UNIVISION ATLANTA: Hello, Secretary Psaki. Thank you for taking my question. I’ll ask you something that is a cause of concern for our communities here in Georgia. As you probably know, our state is only- we have only 51% of our population fully vaccinated, someth- and we have counties where only 20% of residents are vaccinated. Yesterday Dr Cameron Webb from the White House Covid-19 Response Team told me that states like Georgia are potentially some of the most vulnerable ones to the new variant. Nevertheless our governor Brian Kemp has been laser-focused on fighting federal vaccine requirements, calling them unlawful and unconstitutional, and as cases of omicron variant increase in the U. S., and with Georgia as one of the most vulnerable states, I would like to know what’s the White House’s message to Governor Kemp.
PSAKI: Well I would say our message to Governor Kemp is if you’re not going to be a part of protecting the people of Georgia, ensuring that they can take steps to save their own lives, save their neighbor’s lives and their children’s, then you should get out of the way. Because businesses are implementing steps across the country, including in Georgia, to put in place vaccine or testing requirements. Hospital associations are. Universities are. And people- and what we’ve seen as one of the biggest bears and this is something we can do from the federal government is access. So our hope is that we can continue to work in a nonpartisan way with health officials in Georgia as we do across the country to- including increase and expand access to not just testing, but also vaccination. That’s something that we announced that we’re going to take additional steps on yesterday, and we’re looking forward to building on.
The VAST majority of local journalists make the most of their time in front of national figures and ask tough, incisive questions. That was NOT the path taken by Olavarría, who opted for 100% boot-licking, and “asking” a politically charged fly-ball purposely crafted to lead to Psaki´s staged answer.
Referring to vaccine hesitancy in Georgia, Olavarría openly blamed governor Brian Kemp for being “laser-focused on fighting federal vaccine requirements, calling them unlawful and unconstitutional, and as cases of omicron variant increase in the U.S., and with Georgia as one of the most vulnerable states, I would like to know what’s the White House’s message to Governor Kemp.”
The stage was set for Psaki´s diatribe against Kemp: “Well I would say our message to Governor Kemp is if you’re not going to be a part of protecting the people of Georgia, ensuring that they can take steps to save their own lives, save their neighbor’s lives and their children’s, then you (Kemp) should get out of the way, that he doesn´t want to protect Georgians.”
Shame on Olavarría – and Univision – for allowing themselves to be used ON AIR for political lobbying under the guise of journalism.
Shame too on advertisers like Xfinity that enable such blatant bias in the nation´s Spanish-speaking newscasts. Write them here.
Read more: newsbusters.org
