MSNBC pulls plug on Melissa Harris-Perry show
By Thandisizwe Chimurenga / Daily Kos
Cable network MSNBC might be going back to “all white, all the time.” That’s what the Washington Post seems to be implying with their headline, “#MSNBCSoWhite.” Unless you’ve been under a rock, you should know that Melissa Harris-Perry, the professor and author most recently known for her news and public affairs show on MSNBC, has effectively ended her relationship with the network.
Harris-Perry’s departure gave new life to gripes on social media about MSNBC’s racial composition. These included the hashtag #MSNBCSoWhite, an echo of the protests that surrounded the absence of minorities among the Oscars’ best-acting nominations.
People close to Harris-Perry compiled a list of names of those with minority backgrounds who’ve been dismissed or assigned to lesser roles in the past year. The list includes program hosts such as Al Sharpton, Alex Wagner and Joy Reid, and African American contributors and pundits such as Michael Eric Dyson , Touré , Karen Finney and Goldie Taylor. Three other African Americans who have appeared as panelists and pundits — Janet Mock, Dorian Warren and the Rev. Jacqui Lewis — now mostly appear on Shift by MSNBC, the network’s little-viewed digital channel.
An email sent out to staffers on Saturday gave Harris-Perry’s reasons: It wasn’t only due to lack of editorial control. She was basically being kicked to the curb instead of being called upon for elections-centered analysis.
I have stayed in the same hotels where MSNBC has been broadcasting in Iowa, in New Hampshire, and in South Carolina, yet I have been shut out from coverage. I have a PhD in political science and have taught American voting and elections at some of the nation’s top universities for nearly two decades, yet I have been deemed less worthy to weigh in than relative novices and certified liars. I have hosted a weekly program on this network for four years and contributed to election coverage on this network for nearly eight years, but no one on the third floor has even returned an email, called me, or initiated or responded to any communication of any kind from me for nearly a month. It is profoundly hurtful to realize that I work for people who find my considerable expertise and editorial judgment valueless to the coverage they are creating.
By the way, when Harris-Perry says certified liars—she’s talking about this dude.
Dave Zirin over at The Nation lamented the cancellation of the show and defended Harris-Perry, writing:
Instead of responding to these concerns, network executives chose to simply kill the show, citing the email as “destructive to our relationship.” A nameless exec, speaking to The Washington Post, called her a “challenging and unpredictable personality.” It is certainly true that Melissa fought for her vision of what she wanted the show to be, but it is difficult to imagine that a white, male host would be attacked so personally and called “challenging and unpredictable” for exhibiting similar behavior. It also speaks volumes that such adjectives—“challenging,” “unpredictable”—would be seen as insults in the modern news media world, instead of high praise.
Yvette Carnell, writer and critic, thinks the departure of Harris-Perry and other commentators of color coincides with the departure of the first African-American resident of the White House. You can hear her theory about that in the video below, courtesy of The Real News Network.
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It’s a tragedy that Melissa is departing. I always enjoyed her astute reporting and her beauty. I do think, however, that Brian Williams deserves a second chance. There are so many that have fallen by the wayside after doing good reporting: Ed Schultz, Keith Olberman, many others. That’s life in the big city. There are no guarantees.
John, I agree with much of what you’ve said. My first MSNBC program-watch was Countdown with Keith Olbermann; it offered something different and interesting guests, and from there I went on to look at some of the other shows. Still miss Joe and Mika (since retiring, I’m not up “way too early” anymore! ;-) ); liked Ed Schultz et al. Love Rachel Maddow! (If memory serves, both she and Lawrence O’Donnell, whose show follows hers, started off as subs for Olbermann when he was away…)
The lug-nuts started popping off, though, with Martin Bashir’s program, which I really liked. I saw that telecast, heard what was said; Caribou Barbie absolutely had it coming, and the network effectively gave her a free pass!
MSNBC has never been quite the same for me after that. Familiar faces and good shows continue to disappear, and to what end?
And, here’s where we part company, I think: after watching/hearing him during coverage of Pope Francis’ US visit, I can tell you that Brian Williams is adding nothing whatever of substance to the place since his return from exile.
He lacks the heft, the gravitas, of someone, say, like Peter Jennings or one of my personal heroes, Walter Cronkite. Rachel can do it, even Chris Matthews can (even for all the bombast, which I really don’t care for); but Williams is a fish out of water in that crowd and utterly outclassed…
MSNBC just keeps on tossing the babies AND the bathwater… *sigh* …multiplying their ills rather than curing them…
For insight into the leadership of white mainstream media look no farther than the professsional dump CBS’ Scott Pelley did on that photographer who dared to leave the Trump presspen in order to grab pictures of blacklivesmatter demonstrators at this week’s Trumpfest. CBS showed the video that had a Secret Service agent grabbing the photographer, TIME’s Chris Morris, BY THE THROAT and slamming him to the concrete. Lying on his back Morris kicked at the agent once, got up and argued with him and shot a hand to the agent’s throat to demonstrate what had been done to him moments before. The onseen reporter, Major (minor) Garrett, threw the story back toPelley, telling the world that Morris had elected not to file charges against the agent, to which Pelley, sonorously intoned… “Especially not after the way he (Morris) provoked the agent.”
Think about it: Morris was doing what his company and his experience have taught him to do. GET THE PICTURE. He left the tight little enclosure that Trump’s campaign reserves for “the enemy,” like any good reporter would do. This was a private event at a high school that Trump couldn’t lawfully control, and yet the Secret Service complied in the restrictions Trump places on the press. The video shows Morris was blindsided and thrown like a rag to the floor for trying to shoot the pictures of a crew of black demonstrators who were being thrown out of a public gathering. And CBS News’ lead mouthpiece issues a judgement on Morris that no real journalist can respect. After all, did Pelley know who provoked the violence? What kind of courage did it take for Morris to do what he did, and what kind of cowardice was Pelley’s? This was just another revelation of how controlled and articial is the communications industry, and why it is having less influence on the younger voters than it once did.