Andrea Mitchell, NBC (Sort Of) Correct DeSantis Lie After Pressure From OutKick
MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell admits she was "imprecise" in an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris last week, during which she claimed Florida Governor Ron DeSantis didn’t want slavery taught in schools.
Mitchell addressed viewers Wednesday:
"In my interview last Friday with Vice President Harris, I was imprecise in summarizing Governor DeSantis’ position about teaching slavery in schools.
Governor DeSantis is not opposed to teaching the fact of slavery in schools, but he has opposed the teaching of an African American studies curriculum as well as the use of some authors and source materials that historians and teachers say makes it all but impossible for students to understand the broader historic and political context behind slavery and its aftermath in the years since."
Mitchell and NBC "News" stood by their deceiving smear of DeSantis for five days. Perhaps they would have never corrected the lie had OutKick not pressed them to do so.
We reached out to both NBC and Andrea Mitchell for comment on the segment after debunking their portrayal of DeSantis' stance on teaching slavery last Saturday:
The statement that Ron DeSantis does not want slavery and the aftermath of slavery taught in Florida schools is a complete, and easily disprovable lie.
A two-second search of the Florida Department of Education’s website shows that far from being banned, teaching about slavery is a requirement.
Neither Mitchell nor NBC responded to OutKick's requests for comment.
Ron DeSantis and Andrea Mitchell.
We are glad to see NBC, somewhat, address its deceptive coverage. Although Mitchell wasn't totally honest. She misrepresented what DeSantis said. A Fox News Digital report on the syllabus of The College Board’s course revealed it "contains tenets of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and elements of queer theory.
Still, we hope the company continues its half-corrections from here.
Next, hopefully, the network clarifies why it suspended Miguel Almaguer and scrubbed his report about Paul Pelosi’s attack from the internet.
What did Almaguer do wrong? As far as we can tell, his reporting differed from the government's preferred narrative.
As did another story that NBC recently stealth-edited.
In December, Andrea Mitchell reported that the Kremlin offered the United States WNBA player Brittney Griner or former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, “The Merchant of Death.” The story concluded that Biden chose Griner over the former Marine.
However, that specific nugget then disappeared from the article. NBC quietly altered the text to claim Russia only offered Griner for exchange.
The outlet conveniently changed its messaging to match the messaging of United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who said Biden has no option to bring Whelan back to the U.S.
We asked NBC and Mitchell if it changed its report based on bad sourcing or at the behest of the Biden Administration.
That answer is still unclear. As is whether or not NBC is a form of quasi-state media.
Of course, no one outlet is to blame for 89 percent of American adults saying they do not trust the television news. A number that substantial takes years of deceit from multiple contributors.
But NBC "News" certainly shares part -- if not most -- of the blame.