Chris Matthews on Monday admitted he and others at his network are not journalists but instead are advocates and activists.
Speaking with Al Sharpton on Politics Nation immediately following President Obama's speech in Hartford, Connecticut, Matthews said, "I don’t think there’s any problem with taking sides" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
CHRIS MATTHEWS: I’m going to defend our world here on what he calls cable TV. I know the president doesn’t watch us or says he doesn’t. Some of his people do. I think MSNBC, you and I and a bunch of other people on this network have been keeping up the fight for gun safety for the two or three months of this fight since Newtown, not just a few times, but consistently every night. Absolutely consistent fighting spirit here on this network to really push for this kind of action. So I don’t think there’s any problem with taking sides here.
He’s taking sides. He calls it not being political. But look who his enemies are in this fight. They’re all Republicans. You gotta stop kidding yourself here. It’s a partisan opposition to gun safety. It’s partisan and that’s the problem. When you have a whole political party run by Mitch McConnell saying “no vote,” that’s serious business and it’s partisan as hell. Let’s not kid ourselves.
That bears repeating: "I think MSNBC, you and I and a bunch of other people on this network have been keeping up the fight for gun safety for the two or three months of this fight since Newtown, not just a few times, but consistently every night. Absolutely consistent fighting spirit here on this network to really push for this kind of action. So I don’t think there’s any problem with taking sides here."
Is that what news outlets are supposed to do?
As NewsBusters reported last month, the Pew Research Center found that 85 percent of MSNBC reports are opinion and not news.
Matthews' comments Monday not only support this finding, but make it clear for all the world to see that MSNBC is not a news organization.
This is an activist arm of the left-wing and the Democratic Party in this nation, and should not be placed anywhere near real news networks on cable and satellite dish guides.
When are the various cable and satellite companies going to realize this?
