On Monday, July 28, the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley used a new study showing that high fives are five times more hygienic than shaking hands as a way of promoting President Obama's use of the fist bump.
Fill-in anchor James Brown, who hosts The NFL Today on CBS, gushed at how “in his line of work, President Obama does a healthy amount of handshaking but a study out today says high fives will be more hygienic. They transfer only about half as many bacteria.”
In a brief segment at the end of the broadcast, Brown continued to hype President Obama, by showing numerous pictures of the president shaking hands with different public figures. He concluded by beaming that “fist bumps are even better. They spread only 10 percent of the germs of a handshake. But maybe the president had the best idea of all right here, leave the hands out, entirely.”
See relevant transcript below.
CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley
July 28, 2014
JAMES BROWN: Well, in his line of work, President Obama does a healthy amount of handshaking but a study out today says high fives will be more hygienic. They transfer only about half as many bacteria. Fist bumps are even better. They spread only 10 percent of the germs of a handshake. But maybe the president had the best idea of all right here, leave the hands out, entirely.
— Jeffrey Meyer is a News Analyst at the Media Research Center. Follow Jeffrey Meyer on Twitter. [1]