The resident Republican blowhard on MSNBC, Joe Scarborough, has staked out his post as the network’s voice of rightist disinformation. He commands his three hour block of airtime like a junta leader, ordering the topics of discussion and interrupting his guests incessantly.
This morning Scarborough appeared to have a severe cognitive collapse during a segment about the Republican Party’s debate-o-phobia (video below). Like most of his ideological allies, he is suffering from the delusion that the American media, owned by a handful of megalithic, multinational corporations, is dominated by liberals. Scarborough set off on a rant about the absence of conservatives on nightly news programs, Sunday shows, and in the executive suites. He badgered his guests to come up with examples of Republicans in those roles, and insisted that they could not do it.
Scarborough: Outside of Brit Hume, who has been a conservative in the mainstream media in the past 30 years who you’ve worked for? Outside of Brit Hume, who has held a powerful position at ABC, NBC or CBS News on the air? […] Name the single Republican that has hosted a Sunday show, that has been an anchor of a news network for the big three networks over the past 50 years. You cannot do it.
Setting aside the fact that Scarborough conveniently leaves out Fox News, the most watched, and therefore mainstream by default, cable news network, he repeatedly spits out this challenge to his colleagues, who are not particularly well informed on the subject. For instance, Mark Halperin, the senior political analyst for MSNBC, responded sheepishly saying “Joe, I agree with you 100%.” No one else on the panel was able to take up Scarborough’s challenge either.
For their future reference, they may want to note that Chris Wallace, now the anchor of Fox News Sunday, hosted NBC’s Meet the Press for a year. Tony Snow, who went on to serve as press secretary for George W. Bush was the first host of FOX News Sunday. Diane Sawyer anchored ABC’s World News Tonight for five years after serving as a press aide to Richard Nixon. So Scarborough’s sweaty insistence that no one can name such people is demonstrably false.
Scarborough kept switching from asking for on-air-personalities to executives in charge of the news operations. On that front there are right-wingers like David Rhodes, the current President of CBS News who had a similar position at Fox for fifteen years. Ken Jautz, the head of CNN, is the man who gave Glenn Beck his first job on television. NBC is now owned by Comcast, whose Roberts family owners are notorious righties.
There are certainly more conservatives in television newsrooms, but it’s hard to pin them down with proof. That’s because most career journalists are careful to avoid any open expression of partisanship. So people like CBS’s Scott Pelley, or NBC’s Chuck Todd, and many more, may have distinctly conservative views, but they have never worked for a GOP senator or made a donation to any political campaign, or even registered with a party, so there is no hard evidence. And the same is true for journalists who are accused of being liberals. That doesn’t mean they aren’t there. And it doesn’t warrant the loony outburst that Scarborough let loose today. If anything, the fact that no one at the table could cite any of the people mentioned above is proof that the media is conservative, and blind to their bias.
How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.
The trouble with Scarborough’s assessment is that news is not supposed to present a right- or left-wing slant in it’s reporting. News is supposed to be neutral and just deliver the facts. Scarborough’s problem with the major networks and cable news is that they tend to tell things that are in opposition to the reporting of right-wing cable channels. In essence, what Scarborough is advocating for is legitimizing propaganda instead of actual news. The American population deserves better. Just because so-called “liberal media” report that the Republican budget package included cuts to Social Security and Medicare should not be disputed by right-wing news because it is true. It’s not the job of right-wing news to defend one side or the other. The main purpose of news is to report facts and let the audience decide how they feel about it. Trying to influence public opinion on the news is simply propaganda.
Joe doesn’t feel there are enough right wing propagandists on TV.
for-profit “news”, the death of truth, this is where we end up. Propaganda “info-tainment” masquerading as journalism.
So…does he realize that he’s sitting on the set of his daily 3-hour conservative talk show, as he whines? His attempt to advance this lie is pathetic, given his obvious omission of himself & Faux News. Talk shows don’t count, huh? Joe did a horrible job with the cherry-picking.
MSNBC: “We are Koch.”
Scarborough dedicates long segments of his morning show to bashing President Obama or Hillary Clinton while at the same time worshiping at the feet of Donald Trump or Chris Christie. If the media were truly controlled by liberals, he would be sent packing to Fox where he belongs. He seems to believe if he yells loud enough and long enough he can influence opinions.
Hey Joe!!! How’s that intern doing??? Oh…. wait……
Oh, please. Scarborough works for an NBC-owned cable channel. Who does he think he is fooling? Does he reference FOX at all? Nope. Methinks it was a ratings grabber as MSNBC is struggling. And I only watch Rachel Maddow on the channel. I used to watch Keith Olbermann but his personality gave him trouble. I still credit him with bringing us Rachel, one of the brightest in our media world.
Joe, this is not a discussion… this “journalistic” piece today was a presentation paper…Watching you over the years, You never do anything that doesn’t promote you. You are so great..how you won your election…OMG…like you are the only politician who has worked as hard…Morning Joe is the centerpiece of MSNBC doing 15 hours a week where all you do is rant, rave and bash against President Obama and Hillary Clinton while glorifying You, Trump, Christie and others …without apologies. When I turn you on at 6 I have to check to make sure I am not listening to Fox News. And Joe, are you planning to run for President 2020 while you are positioning yourself in this game of political football? Can you say unequivocally state that you are not going to run? What is disturbing is that you are simply an arrogant Bully. And Mika why do you sit there dutifully like a 20th century wife who has no idea of “know your value” and with a face that is filled with the weirdest expressions…Say something Mika…Send Joe to Mench School. And Joe Americans do not want to know a journalists political affiliation…we want good journalism, questions, a professional that reflects and capture the times that Americans are going through and we want our candidates to deliver their conviction and plans about solving problems, concerns and issues that keep middle Americans up at night. Enough of their flip flopping and apologies… They need to stop being so entitled. As I said in my TwitterSpeak the night of the debate. I have witnessed high school debates that are far superior to what I have seen in the last three debates…So sad…Anything you have to say about them Joe?
Joe must have recently ( or repeatedly) put himself forward for a Sunday morning show or an evening news position and been turned down.
I try to be open minded, but Joe is so narrow minded I have trouble listening to him. As you say a journalist is supposed to present the news & let the listener decide for himself. I realize Mica must be the liberal, but why is she so quiet? Of all on MSMBC this program should be more openminded.Rachel will call a spade a spade & do it without being confrontational. She tells the truth & if is proven wrong always ownes up to it later.
Joe is such a blowheart I can no longer watch with out taking a break . I do not understand why Mika does not respond to his constant rants. How much time is left on hid contract ? put some one in this time slot that is interested in sharing news not propaganda? Rachel would be wonderful