Unidentified reporter from Univision Atlanta’s affiliate decided to spend his time before Jen Psaki, Press Secretary, as he auditioned for Stacy Abrams’ gubernatorial position.
Watch as Rafael Olavarría psusks up to Psaki at the very end of Friday´s White House press briefing, when she turns her back to the White House press corps to face the reporter over a monitor behind her (this while shuffling pages until settling on the script for the non-spontaneous exchange):
JEN PSAKI, PRESS SEECRETARY: Today we have a visitor. Um, hello. We are glad to have you, Rafael. Thank you for being here. Your backdrop is beautiful. Let me know what I can do for you right now.
…
RAFAEL OLAVARRIA UNIVISION ATLANTA : Hi Secretary Psaki. Thanks for answering my question. You’ll be asking me something concerning the health of our community in Georgia. You probably already know that our state only has 51% of its residents fully vaccinated. Somethin’s more, we also have counties in which only 20% are vaccinated. Yesterday, Dr Cameron Webb (White House Covid-19 Response Team) told me that Georgia and other states are among the most at risk from this variant. Nevertheless our governor Brian Kemp has been laser-focused on fighting federal vaccine requirements, calling them unlawful and unconstitutional, and as cases of omicron variant increase in the U. S., and with Georgia as one of the most vulnerable states, I would like to know what’s the White House’s message to Governor Kemp.
PSAKI: I think our message to Governor Kemp would be that if you don’t want to play a role in protecting Georgians and ensuring they have the ability to take action to protect their lives as well as their neighbors’ lives and those of their children, you need to get out. Businesses are taking steps all across the nation, even in Georgia to implement vaccine testing and prevention requirements. These are hospital associations. Universities are. People- this has been one of our biggest concerns and something that we can get from the federal government. Access. Our hope is to continue working in an non-partisan manner with Georgia’s health officials, as well as across the nation to increase and expand vaccine access. That’s something that we announced that we’re going to take additional steps on yesterday, and we’re looking forward to building on.
A large majority of local journalists take advantage of the opportunity to ask difficult, insightful questions of politicians and other national officials. That was NOT the path taken by Olavarría, who opted for 100% boot-licking, and “asking” a politically charged fly-ball purposely crafted to lead to Psaki´s staged answer.
Referring to vaccine hesitancy in Georgia, Olavarría openly blamed governor Brian Kemp for being “laser-focused on fighting federal vaccine requirements, calling them unlawful and unconstitutional, and as cases of omicron variant increase in the U.S., and with Georgia as one of the most vulnerable states, I would like to know what’s the White House’s message to Governor Kemp.”
The stage was set for Psaki´s diatribe against Kemp: “Well I would say our message to Governor Kemp is if you’re not going to be a part of protecting the people of Georgia, ensuring that they can take steps to save their own lives, save their neighbor’s lives and their children’s, then You (Kemp), should get out of your way, that he doesn´t want to protect Georgians.”
Shame on Olavarria – and Univision – for allowing themselves to be used ON AIR for political lobbying under the guise of journalism.
Shame too on the advertisers like Xfinity that enable such blatant bias in the nation´s Spanish-speaking newscasts. These are your comments.
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