Report: NBC News Claims It's Not Pushing Advocacy Journalism

NBC News president Noah Oppenheim insists his network is not in the business of "advocacy journalism," according to Fox News.

In an interview with the Poynter Institute published Wednesday, Oppenheim said NBC News is "ferociously defending the traditional approach to journalism" and that its mission is "to hold the middle ground and be objective and nonpartisan."

"When we go and interview a national figure, whether it’s Vice President Harris or if it had been Vice President Pence three years ago, we’re going to go into each of those interviews with the exact same mentality, which is these are the folks who are running our country," Oppenheim told Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones. "They need to be held to account. What are the toughest questions that we should be asking in order to accomplish that?"

He added, "I still believe in that old-school approach to journalism and being just as tough on both sides. And looking for truth and facts. Our mission is to illuminate and not advocate."

Oppenheim was then asked about "advocacy journalism," which he said "certainly has a place in the menu of available offerings in the world for people who are looking for it" but not at NBC News. 

Noah Oppenheim

"It’s not what we do, though. It’s not what NBC News does," Oppenheim said.

Except NBC News hasn't necessarily practiced what Oppenheim preaches, writes Joseph A. Wulfsohn at Fox News

Last month, the Peacock network announced it had hired Yamiche Alcindor as a Washington correspondent. Alcindor has earned a reputation from critics for being a liberal activist between her overly hostile coverage of the Trump administration during her tenure at PBS and her over-the-top gushing for the Biden presidency.

In July, "NBC Nightly News" anchor Lester Holt raised eyebrows for declaring "fairness is overrated."

"I think it’s become clear that fairness is overrated ... the idea that we should always give two sides equal weight and merit does not reflect the world we find ourselves in," Holt said while receiving a journalism award. "That the sun sets in the west is a fact. Any contrary view does not deserve our time or attention … Decisions to not give unsupported arguments equal time are not a dereliction of journalistic responsibility or some kind of agenda, in fact, it’s just the opposite."

In 2018, "Meet the Press" moderator Chuck Todd dedicated an entire broadcast on the subject of climate change but was vocal about his rejection of any climate change skeptics.

"We’re not going to debate climate change, the existence of it. The Earth is getting hotter. And human activity is a major cause, period. We’re not going to give time to climate deniers. The science is settled, even if political opinion is not," Todd told viewers at the time.

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