Tommye Winkley

Andrea Mitchell was the selected reporter to cover the visit to an elementary school using state of the art methods in Early Childhood Development during the Biden visit to the G-7 meeting. Dr. Jill Biden, who holds a Doctorate in Education, was the guest of the Duchess of Cambridge who has made Early Childhood Development her signature cause and patronage, her major focus of interest, for several years. So, sitting with 5 year old children at their table where they were showing and telling the two guests about their projects and work, Andrea Mitchell, one of the most respected and experienced serious Journalists in America, whose expertise is in foreign policy, asks the Duchess of Cambridge, interrupting her focus on the children, and the issue at hand, ie, education and development of children’s potential, to inquire how she feels about her new niece in California and has she seen her or spoken with the mother. Why not go for another question, such as, what designer she is wearing and how much did she pay for it? Or, even, if the Sussex relations have apologized to their family in UK yet? I was stunned. That is NOT what I would have expected from Andrea Mitchell. This assignment required a serious journalist, not a gossip columnist, and the question had NOTHING to do with the event she was covering. I am now over being stunned. I am disgusted and embarrassed at how cheap and tawdry this was.