Katie Couric: 'Craven & wrong' for NBC to schedule Trump Town Hall at same time as Biden event
LOS ANGELES - "I think it was a really, really bad decision… I think it’s really bad for democracy.”
Thursday, as President Trump and former Vice President Biden prepared to square off in simultaneous town hall events, Katie Couric criticized her former employer, NBC, for scheduling the two events at the same time.
“I was really disappointed by the decision by management to go head-to-head with a town hall featuring former Vice President Biden,” Couric told FOX 11’s Elex Michaelson of the scheduling.
“I think it was really just craven and wrong, they should have scheduled it on a night when Vice President Biden was not doing a town hall meeting.”
Originally, Trump and Biden were set to meet in Miami on October 15 for the second Presidential debate. The debate was to be moderated by CSPAN’s Steve Scully, who, on Thursday, was suspended by the network for lying that his Twitter account had been hacked.
Last week, following the President’s positive COVID diagnosis, the Commission on Presidential Debates decided that the affair would be virtual - a decision which the President’s campaign rejected.
Once the debate was cancelled, the Biden campaign announced they would be sitting for a town hall on ABC from 8:00 to 9:30. Days later, NBC announced they would be holding a similar event with President Trump from 8:00 to 9:00.
The scheduling decision was met with calls from viewers to “Boycott NBC.” On Thursday, more than 100 actors, writers and producers, many of whom work for NBC, signed an open letter asking for the Trump Town Hall to be moved.
“You can see how it’s going to play out,” Couric opined to Michaelson. “Because many people believe President Trump is 'good TV,' he will say 'my ratings were much better,' whether they were or not, but I imagine they probably will be, and then he’s going to translate ratings into electability, and somehow that Americans are much more interested in him than Joe Biden, and ergo, he should be re-elected.”
Despite the criticism for her former network, where she hosted Today from 1991 through 2006, Couric had nothing but positive words to say about her former colleagues.
“I have many friends who still work at NBC, and some of my best years in television news took place at NBC,” Couric reminisced, “so I have a lot of respect for my colleagues there who have been working so hard and have been doing a great job.”
In a wide-ranging interview on The Issue Is, Couric also discussed her past experiences interviewing both President Trump and former Vice President Biden, her infamous 2008 interview with former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, and the state of news media.
The Issue Is is California's only statewide political show. Watch FOX 11 Los Angeles Fridays at 10:30PM and Sundays at 9:00AM. For more showtimes and information, go to TheIssueIsShow.com.