TIME Magazine owner takes Kamala Harris to task for denying interview requests: ‘We believe in transparency’
TIME Magazine owner Marc Benioff called out Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday for denying multiple interview requests from the magazine, contrasting her with President Biden and even former President Trump for her lack of transparency.
Benioff shared TIME’s feature story on Harris last week by Charlotte Alter, who noted Harris turned down interview requests in her lengthy story about how she would be as president.
“Despite multiple requests, TIME has not been granted an interview with Kamala Harris—unlike every other Presidential candidate,” Benioff wrote on X. “We believe in transparency and publish each interview in full. Why isn’t the Vice President engaging with the public on the same level?”
Benioff, who also owns Salshared links to the full transcripts of interviews TIME did with Trump and Biden back in the spring. At the time, Biden was the presumptive nominee for the Democrats, before he dropped out of the race in July amid intense pressure from party leaders.
Vice President Kamala Harris and TIME owner Marc Benioff. (Getty Images)
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While the piece was largely sympathetic to Harris, Alter did quote an independent voter, Rodrigo Lopez, who was skeptical of Harris’ left-wing lurch in the 2020 Democratic primary and her open attempt to take the middle in her 2024 run.
“Yet she has skirted the thorough accounting of her policy evolution that Lopez is seeking, in part by speaking infrequently to reporters,” Alter wrote. “When she does do interviews, she mostly favors local media, culture podcasts, or friendly talk shows. Harris declined repeated requests for an interview for this story.”
“In contrast,” Alter added, Trump and Biden sat down with TIME earlier this year for extended conversations about their views and policies.
TIME would be unlikely to be hostile to Harris. The liberal magazine has won plaudits from other media analysts for its melodramatic, anti-Trump covers for years.
Also, Alter penned a glowing cover story about Harris in August but didn’t get an interview for that one, either. She did quote a wide array of aides, advisers and supporters like Pete Buttigieg, CNN’s Bakari Sellers and gun control activist David Hogg.
“Even if Washington was taken by surprise, the energetic fighter of the past two weeks matches the Harris whom allies say they have known for years,” Alter wrote at the time.
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Harris has stepped up her media appearances in recent weeks but, like Trump, has largely stuck to more sympathetic interview environments. On Tuesday, she spoke with supporters Howard Stern, Stephen Colbert and the co-hosts of “The View” in one day. She also recently taped an appearance with liberal commentator Roland Martin which was posted Monday morning.
In her piece for TIME last week, Alter portrayed Harris as “more practical than ideological” after interviewing current and former advisers and aides, as well as policy experts.
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event at East Carolina University, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, in Greenville, N.C. (AP Photo/David Yeazell) (AP Photo/David Yeazell)
“You can imagine the Harris presidency as an iOS upgrade of the current Administration: the operating system would stay the same, but with new features and better packaging. There are tonal differences between the two: Harris talks more—and more comfortably—about abortion rights than Biden ever did, speaks with more empathy about the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, and has put housing and small business at the center of her plans for strengthening the middle class,” Alter wrote. “But for the most part, allies and critics agree there is little evident policy daylight between the Democratic nominee and the President she replaced atop the party’s ticket this summer.”
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Benioff and the Harris campaign didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment from Fox News Digital.
