We've often documented Joe Scarborough's hypocrisy, most recently here.
But even hyper-hypocrite Scarborough outdid himself this morning. Scarborough whined about Jeff Bezos announcing that henceforth, the editorial policy of the Washington Post, which he owns, will focus on personal liberties and free markets, with no opposing viewpoints published. Said Scarborough:
"Most of us, when we saw this, we just said, what the hell? It is it's like something that we've never heard. I mean, it's obviously opinion pages can go their own direction, but to say we don't publish opposing viewpoints seems shocking at best."
If ever there were a TV show where no "opposing viewpoints" are allowed, it's Scarborough's Morning Joe. The panel consists of a rotating group of liberal talking heads. The only "Republicans" allowed are of the rabid anti-Trump variety, such as co-founder of the Lincoln Project George Conway.
Scarborough loves to quote the Sermon on the Mount to castigate Republicans, and did so in the February 7th item linked above.
So let's quote from that same Sermon this morning:
"Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye." — Matthew 7:1–5 KJV
Capiche? Before condemning Bezos for not allowing "opposing viewpoints" in the Washington Post, Joe, how about offering some opposing viewpoints on Morning Joe? For starters, I bet Ben Shapiro might be available. Or wouldn't it be awesome to see Scarborough go head-to-head with JD Vance?
Scarborough then brought in the former executive editor of the Washington Post, Marty Baron. As a journalist, Baron proceeded to display a shocking ignorance of the First Amendment:
"I'm in favor of free expression. You know, it's right there in the First Amendment."
Baron described the new Post policy as:
"A betrayal of the very idea of free expression . . . It actually dishonors free expression, which is the most fundamental personal liberty of American citizens."
For Mr. Baron's edification, here's what's "right there in the First Amendment."
"Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press."
Got that? The Constitution forbids Congress from making laws restricting the freedom of speech or the press."
The Amendment pointedly does NOT forbid individuals from doing so.
To the contrary, Bezos's new policy is a perfect example of someone exercising his own freedom of speech and press.
That same freedom is available to Marty Baron. Thus, if he would care to publish The Marty Messenger, or The Baron Bulletin, with an official slogan of "Only Liberal Opinions Allowed," he'd be entirely within his rights.
By the same token, here at NewsBusters, we proudly proclaim our mission to be "Exposing and Combating Liberal Media Bias." You'd search long and hard to find a liberal blog in our cyberpages.
We don't begrudge Scarborough his right to restrict his guest list to liberals and Trump antagonists. We only criticize Joe for blasting Bezos for exercising his corresponding freedom.
Here's the transcript.
MSNBC
Morning Joe
2/27/25
6:34 am ETJOE SCARBOROUGH: The billionaire owner of the Washington Post, Jeff Bezos, announcing yesterday a major shift to the newspaper's opinion section, saying it's now going to focus on what he calls two pillars: personal liberties and free markets, and pointedly said the paper will not publish any opposing viewpoints on those topics. The decision to reduce the scope and views of the opinion pages is a major departure from the paper's longtime approach to commentary and response.
The newspaper's opinion editor, David Shipley, resigned from the position he's held since 2022, declining to stay at the helm under the paper's new editorial direction.
Let's bring in right now the former executive editor of the Washington Post, Marty Baron. Marty started in that position in early 2013, months before Bezos purchased The Post, and he served through 2021.
Marty, I mean, most of us, when we saw this, we just said, what the hell? It's like something that we've never heard. I mean, it's obviously, opinion pages can go their own direction. But to say we don't publish opposing viewpoints seemed shocking at best. What was your reaction?
MARTY BARON: Well, I was shocked as well. You know, Bezos said that he's in favor of personal liberties. Well, of course, so am I. And that's why I'm in favor of free expression. You know, it's right there in the First Amendment. And news organizations have always honored free expression by having a variety of points of view on their opinion pages. But Bezos now is just shutting that down. And he's saying that only his point of view is going to be represented on those pages.
And that really is a betrayal of the heritage of the Washington Post, and I think a betrayal of the very idea of free expression. And actually, in contrast to how newspapers, news organizations honored free expression with a variety of points of view, it actually dishonors free expression, which is the most fundamental personal liberty of American citizens.
