Mainstream media facing increasing questions over Kamala Harris coverage: 'Total dereliction of duty'

Fox News contributor Mary Katharine Ham said Friday the mainstream media is being "lazy" in their coverage of VP Kamala Harris becoming the Democrats' presumptive presidential nominee. Ham said the press seems uninterested in the apparent "power-sharing agreement" set up between President Biden and VP Harris.

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MARY KATHARINE HAM: It was sort of hard to hear the question last night, but it sounded a little bit like, ‘Madam Vice President, what do you think?’ That was the tough one she got in the first access that they really had, an opportunity to shout something at her. I think this is a total dereliction of duty by the press. We are not sure in this moment whether the Middle East is on the verge of a large conflagration, where Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is getting plea deals. A lot of things are going on right now, and I'm not really sure who's doing the job. President Biden answered some questions last night. He also stood slack-jawed next to her while she answered the one she was given. And I think we can all say that this feels sort of like a power-sharing agreement of some kind, about which the media has no curiosity at all. 

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris walk to greet reporter Evan Gershkovich, Alsu Kurmasheva and Paul Whelan at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., following their release as part of a 24-person prisoner swap between Russia and the United States, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024.  (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

There's not one think piece about how we should be concerned about this. And look, if she wants to be the President of the United States, we should know where she stands on issues. She keeps issuing these statements from her staff that say she's completely reversed her decisions. The press, if they do not press her on these things, are allowing her to cosplay president with all the trappings of that job without the pressures of that job. And that is not fair to the American people, because they should have a full understanding of exactly what they're getting into. … She needs to be pressed.

Vice President Kamala Harris was tasked early on in the Biden administration with addressing the root causes of mass migration from Central and South America.  (REUTERS/Kevin Mohatt/Pool)

12 DAYS: KAMALA HARRIS HAS NOT HELD A PRESS CONFERENCE SINCE EMERGING AS PRESUMPTIVE DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE

Vice President Kamala Harris has gone 12 days without holding a formal press conference since becoming the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. 

Harris announced that she had locked up the nomination late on July 22, declaring that she had won commitments of backing from a majority of the nearly 4,000 delegates to next month's Democratic National Convention. She has since hit the campaign trail, spoken at various events, and even chatted with reporters here and there, but hasn’t done a formal press conference or wide-ranging interview in the 12 days that have followed. 

She also failed to appear at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Chicago, where former President Trump made headlines on Wednesday with a heated question-and-answer session. On Thursday, she briefly addressed reporters at Joint Base Andrews as she and President Biden greeted Americans freed from Russia in a massive prisoner swap, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.

On "Outnumbered" Friday, co-host and former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Harris is trying to "script her way to the presidency." 

"I think Kamala herself loses in a historic landslide. Kamala-plus-media is something entirely different. This is why Kamala, the new basement for her is the teleprompter. She wants a scripted campaign. … That is what she's relying on. Where is the press?" she asked.

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Fox News' Brian Flood and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report. 

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