NBC's Chuck Todd dismisses critical race theory as a 'faux controversy'

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Media top headlines June 17

Biden snapping at a reporter, being mocked for again using a prepared list of journalists to call on in Geneva, and a New York Times reporter claiming that teachers can’t explain Juneteenth to students for fear of ‘critical race theory backlash' round out today’s top media headlines

NBC anchor Chuck Todd was quick to dismiss the growing uproar surrounding critical race theory, which is at the heart of an intense debate between parents and school boards nationwide. 

During an interview with Mediaite released Thursday, the "Meet the Press" moderator was asked if the shift towards opinion-dominant media is "dangerous." He responded by expressing concern about media outlets "catering" to their audiences in order to drive clicks and viewers.

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"So my concern on that is as you do this over time, you continue to pervert the news cycle, right?" Todd said. "Let's take this so-called controversy over critical race theory. And I say ‘so-called controversy’ because it's sort of- it's a creation… It's a faux controversy that's being ginned up. And I guess it just gets attention. It keeps people watching or it keeps people clicking or, you know, all of that. That's the concern."

He continued, "And then suddenly, you create a- there's this perceived- and then suddenly, you know, yadda, yadda, yadda- school board meetings are getting disrupted, right? And then you're just sort of, like, wait a minute. Are you covering the news that people need to know?"

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The liberal MSNBC star insisted that the "basic mission" of news organizations is to inform viewers "what they have to know, what they need to know, not just what they want to know."

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"I talk to fellow colleagues about this. And it's sort of like you have this collective agreement- ‘Yeah, this is a problem. But hey, I’ve got to do this for my audience,'" Todd told Mediaite. "We know it's bad collectively but I do think there's too many of us acting individually and I think part of it is because the incentive structure rewards the individual and not the collective in this case."