It’s an absolute fact that Kamala Harris has been avoiding the media like the plague. Evidently the WH News Photographers Association has had enough and are taking to the airwaves to whine about it.

The White House News Photographers Association says Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign has cut the number of journalists who travel with the Democratic nominee from 13 to nine — an “unprecedented reduction in access,” according to a letter addressed to half a dozen Harris staffers and the president of the White House Correspondents’ Association. The letter says that the reduction disproportionately affected news photographers, whose ranks in the travel pool fell from four to one.

The Aug. 29 letter, sent to Harris campaign staffers and the vice president’s office, acknowledges that the campaign says it needed the seats for security personnel, but it reflects broader frustration from news organizations about limited access to Harris, who has had few moments of unscripted public exposure since becoming the nominee. The letter also points to the photographers association’s simmering dissatisfaction with the correspondents association, whose mission is to ensure a free and robust coverage of the presidency.

You know what guys? You built this. It all started with you being so incurious about why Joe Biden needed to campaign from his basement. It continued with your refusal to accept the reality that Joe Biden has some serious cognitive issues. And then Kamala was crowned. All of you remained radio silent over the fact that she went for MONTHS without giving an interview. And when she finally does, they are highly scripted. Plus she needed Tim Walz with her for emotional support during the Dana Bash interview. 

So I find it highly amusing that they are whining about lack of access now, just 50 days before election day. Particularly when others in the media believe that Kamala should do more interviews. They even have suggestions. 

Harris and her running mate plan to blanket the country throughout the weekend with an economic-focused message. Campaign advisers also made clear she will be doing more media interviews, including with unconventional outlets, even as some around her bristle at what they view as an unhealthy obsession with the issue by Republican rivals and the Beltway media.

~Snip

How she approaches media interviews is another question. Bakari Sellers, a longtime close ally of Harris’, said her planned barnstorming “warms the spirit of every Democrat” and should be followed up with non-traditional appearances. He wants Harris to sit with the star podcaster Bill Simmons, who founded the Ringer network and has a huge following among sports and pop culture devotees. Sellers wants to tap into the start of college football season by having Harris chit-chat with Paul Finebaum, the broadcaster and author with deep ties to the NCAA’s Southeastern Conference, whose schools overlap with a large swath of politically pivotal states across the South.

It would be comedy GOLD to watch her attempt to describe a football game, discuss plays, stats, teams…! I’d pay good money to watch that!! 

That said, when you have the campaign telling the media that OH SURE! more interviews are forthcoming, while access by the traveling press pool is being restricted. I’d say the odds are against Kamala doing any interviews between now and November 5th, unless it’s once again a highly-scripted carefully chosen event. 

In other words, a low-profile candidacy is awesome!

I think it’s great if the Harris campaign does more interviews. I think she did exceptionally well in the last one. I would take issue with [the suggestion that she’s] keeping a low profile. She’s done more public events than Donald Trump since she won the nomination, so I don’t think she’s keeping a low profile. She’s been attending rallies. She’s been participating in official business. She’s been traveling the country. If anything, her profile has been higher than Trump. But if they want to do more interviews, I think it would accrue to her benefit.

That’s quite the tap dance Guy! 

She doesn't talk to the press in the first place. What does it matter? Oh right — they're complaining about something trivial in order to distract from how they're not complaining about something massive https://t.co/4tKl8gwMSc

— Noah Pollak (@NoahPollak) September 12, 2024

Remember, this is the same media who’ve been scurrying around for two days insisting that President Trump’s assertion of Kamala wanting to provide funds to illegals wanting transgender surgeries was false. 

Several media outlets got this wrong so instead of just admitting that Trump was correct they hedge on "context" https://t.co/s45S3LzsZN

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) September 12, 2024

They certainly aren’t liking getting clobbered by community notes and actual facts are they? They’ll happily fact check President Trump, and get their checks wrong, but remain exceptionally incurious about Kamala’s record, her plan, or proposed policies. 

In a subsequent exchange, Glasser’s editor said the New Yorker does not “see a need to issue a correction.”

— Joe Gabriel Simonson (@SaysSimonson) September 12, 2024

This whine fest from the White House News Photographers is absolutely delicious. They are reaping what they sowed. 

Feature Photo Credit: Original artwork by Victory Girls Darleen Click