President Obama sat down for a town-hall interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews last night at American University, and had sharp criticism for the media: it’s contributing to America’s divide and splinter, he says.
“Yes, sometimes we get very divided,” the president told Matthews. “Partly because our politics and our media specifically tries to divide them and splinter them.”
Earlier in the interview, the president used FEMA Director Craig Fugate as an example of the media’s favoritism for the negative, pointing out that you don’t see stories on the nightly news about the “heck of a job” Fugate has done responding to natural disasters, but on the other hand, the media is fast to pounce on stories like a Cincinnati IRS office “streamlining” tax exemption categories.
WATCH around 8:40 in for Obama’s comments on the media.
Watch around 9:03 for Obama’s comments on the media’s emphasis on the negative.