NBC News correspondent Dasha Burns faced widespread criticism for her sensationalized reporting this week on Democratic Pennsylvania Senate nominee John Fetterman’s use of closed captioning systems for interviews following his stroke. Now, in a new interview with Republican nominee Dr. Mehmet Oz, Burns failed to press the candidate about major scandals that have recently dogged his campaign and neglected to mention his shifting position on marijuana reform.
By letting Oz off easy after adopting right-wing framing about his opponent, Burns and NBC have effectively gifted Republicans with favorable headlines as the campaign nears its end.
NBC’s Dasha Burns gave the Oz campaign a gift with her focus on Fetterman’s health
Burns emphasized Fetterman’s reliance on closed captioning when she previewed the interview on the October 11 edition of NBC’s Nightly News, adding, “In small talk before the interview without captioning, it wasn’t clear he was understanding our conversation.” Unscrupulous political reporters and right-wing media alike pounced on that statement, either taking it out of context or using it to wrongly frame Fetterman as unfit for the Senate. Responsible reporting made it clear that Fetterman’s use of closed captioning to process questions properly is “common in stroke recovery,” and disability advocates found the NBC interview centering on Fetterman’s accommodation “deeply upsetting.”
Only after her reporting was used to manufacture renewed smears of Fetterman did Burns acknowledge, “Stroke experts do say that this does not mean he has any cognitive impairment. Doesn’t mean his memory or his cognitive condition is impaired, and he didn’t fully recover from this.”
Burns should have known her framing of Fetterman's health would be a propaganda victory for the Oz campaign following multiple instances of them cruelly mocking Fetterman for his stroke. She then followed that up with a mostly softball interview of Oz, whom, she mentioned, gave her only half the time she received with Fetterman.
Burns failed to press Oz on multiple issues and scandals during their interview
The full interview was posted on NBC News’ website the morning of October 14, along with a companion article that led with Oz claiming that “he supports Biden on marijuana pardons.” The writeup framed this as “a slight tack to the center in the final days” of the race, emphasizing his opposition to jailing people for marijuana use:
Mehmet Oz opposes federal mandatory minimum prison sentences and thinks President Joe Biden made a “rational move” by announcing a broad pardon for certain marijuana users, Oz, the Republican Senate nominee in Pennsylvania, said Thursday in an exclusive interview with NBC News.
The remarks represent a slight tack to the center in the final days of a race in which Oz, who trails in public polling, has repeatedly attacked Democratic rival John Fetterman as being too soft on crime.
Oz said he supports Biden’s decision to clear the records of ex-convicts who were in federal prison solely on charges of simple marijuana possession, a rare area of agreement with Biden and Fetterman.
“Going to jail for marijuana is not a wise move for the country. I think folks who have used marijuana and that’s the only reason they’re in jail should not have those criminal — those rulings — held against them,” Oz said, crediting Biden with a “rational move.”
But NBC failed to press Oz on, or mention in this article, the fact that just two months ago Oz was attacking Fetterman for his position on legalizing marijuana use. In an August 24 article, Reason, which also noted that Oz’s attacks on marijuana reform were a reversal from his own position in 2020, wrote:
"He's the most radical candidate in the country," Oz tweeted last week. The video he presented to back up that claim cites Fetterman's positions on criminal justice reform, government spending, energy production, and "socialized medicine" while suggesting that he is taking his cues from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I–Vt.), a self-described "democratic socialist." But the video begins by alluding to Fetterman's support for legalizing recreational marijuana, which the ad presents as clear evidence of his left-wing wackiness.
"Let's pull back his hoodie and examine what's in his head," the narrator says as an animation shows the top of Fetterman's skull come off. Out pop a bunch of screws, followed by a rainbow-colored bong. "Looks like he has some screws loose," says the voiceover. "What's this?" the narrator adds, referring to the bubbling, smoking bong, which elicits a couple of coughs. The unsubtle message: "John Fetterman is crazier than you think."
During a recent Fox News interview, Oz likewise cited Fetterman's position on marijuana legalization as evidence that he is unfit for the job he is seeking. "He's known for hanging a pot flag out of the windows" and "campaigning" to "get marijuana legalized," Oz said.
This wasn’t Burns’ only failure to press Oz on his policies. When she asked what legislation he would push to address crime, Oz briefly glossed over police issues before launching into a nonsensical rant about supporting “school choice” and building a liquified natural gas export terminal in Philadelphia. Oz has made “crime” a centerpiece of his campaign, yet Burns failed to press for a coherent policy plan on this issue, instead changing the topic to federal mandatory minimum sentencing requirements.
Burns also failed to press Oz about various scandals over the sham medical products or quack doctors he featured on his long-running TV show, even though both Burns and Oz touted his supposed medical expertise during the interview. On October 3, The Washington Post reported that on his show, Oz pushed a fake weight loss product that drew an FDA warning, with the agency telling those marketing it as a weight loss tool “that they were violating the law by making such claims.” He also pushed another fake weight loss product that “the FDA has said can cause liver damage” and a dubious cancer treatment product. On October 12, Mother Jones reported on how Oz used his TV show to promote questionable-supplement pusher Joseph Mercola, who went on to become a COVID-19 vaccine misinformer.
In addition to Burns’ failure to confront Oz on his history of pushing fake medical products, she failed to bring up reporting that his early medical research at Columbia University's Institute of Comparative Medicine ended up creating “extensive suffering” and killing hundreds of dogs and other animals. According to whistleblower testimony, there were multiple violations of the Animal Welfare Act, and the university was forced to pay a penalty for these violations during Oz’s experiments.
Burns also didn’t ask Oz about his stance on his political patron Donald Trump’s endless lies that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, yet in discussing the interview on NBC’s Today, Burns pointed to a month-old statement from Oz to claim he “has recently tried to distance himself” from those lies.
Burns also allowed Oz to claim he has “tremendous compassion” for Fetterman, a curious phrase he has been using when talking about Fetterman’s stroke even after months of Oz and his campaign cruelly mocking Fetterman over it.
