NBC Touts New White House Receptionist; Ignored Fired Florist

NBC Touts New White House Receptionist, Ignored Fired Florist (NewsBusters)

Introducing a White House puff piece on Friday's NBC Today, co-host Matt Lauer proclaimed: "Now to a young woman who might just be one of the most impressive figures in Washington. We're talking about the President's newly-appointed receptionist."

National correspondent Peter Alexander declared: "She oversees the front of the West Wing here at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, greeting presidents and prime ministers. But her personal story of getting here is just as powerful." As upbeat music played throughout the report, Alexander gushed: "Leah is the new Receptionist of the United States. If he's the POTUS, she's the ROTUS. That's her desk, just steps from the Oval Office. She's 27, a Connecticut native, and she's deaf."