An NBC reporter is being criticized after her interview with Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman. The sweatshirt-wearing Democrat is struggling with auditory processing issues following his stroke in May. Some continue to be surprised by his recovery, including the reporter who sat down with him in his first in-person interview since his health scare.
At the beginning of the interview, reporter Dasha Burns asked Fetterman, who was sitting behind a computer screen, why he needed closed captioning and how it worked. Fetterman explained he uses captioning because sometimes he will “hear things in a way that’s not perfectly clear.”
After the interview, Burns said, “In small talk before the interview without captioning, it wasn’t clear that he was understanding our conversation.”
Now she is being criticized because some believe by reporting her observations, she’s raising questions on whether Fetterman is fit to serve office.
Fetterman has been open about his challenge. He cited it as the reason why he waited to debate Dr. Oz but said he expects to make a full recovery over the next several months.
According to the American Stroke Association, auditory overload is a common side effect after a stroke because the brain can’t keep up with the amount of sensory information it receives. And the Mayo Clinic said such impairments can improve, while the most improvement generally happens in the weeks and months after a stroke.
“Recovering from a stroke in public isn’t easy,” Fetterman tweeted. “But in January, I’m going to be much better and Dr. Oz will still be a fraud.”