Race Issues

Dial MSNBC for Murder . . . The Lean Forward network is the place to go if that's the way you want to hear the death of Michael Brown described.  On August 12th, NB'S Ken Shepherd noted that Chris Hayes didn't utter a peep of protest when a Missouri state senator called Brown's death an "execution-style" killing.  Three days later on MSNBC, Luke Russert called Brown's death "murder" before…

Filling in for Andrea Mitchell during MSNBC's 12 p.m. ET hour on Friday, Hardball host Chris Matthews hit President Obama from the left while praising Attorney General Eric Holder's visit to Ferguson, Missouri: "...it may be a lesson for the President, too, and I'm not usually a critic of him. But I have to say that I thought that in a very positive way Eric holder showed how you lead in this…

The Washington Post editorial board (the group that writes every day’s unsigned editorials) announced with fanfare that they would no longer use the word “Redskins” as they continue to agitate for a change in the team name. So “while we wait for the National Football League to catch up with thoughtful opinion and common decency, we have decided that, except when it is essential for clarity or…

In yet more proof that MSNBC has absolutely no sense of journalistic detachment from the Obama White House or political activism in the streets, Politico’s Glenn Thrush is reporting that Team Obama was plumbing Sharpton for information he gleaned on the streets of Ferguson, Missouri. "Sharpton—so often criticized for being a self-promoter—finds himself in the unusual position of being too…

NPR again defined the abuse of its taxpayer subsidy to promote the Obama administration on Thursday’s Morning Edition. Online, they began their report on Attorney General Eric Holder this way: “The nation's top law enforcement officer traveled to Ferguson, Mo., on Wednesday to wrap his arms around a community in pain.” On air, reporter Carrie Johnson began: “From the moment he walked into a…

Channeling Jesse Jackson’s comments earlier this week on Newsmax TV, MSNBC’s Al Sharpton argued that no circumstance justified Michael Brown being shot multiple times, using the logic that he was unarmed. This despite reports that Brown had charged and beat Officer Darren Wilson prior to the fatal shooting. During a predictably soft interview with host Alex Wagner on the August 20 edition of…

One week after MSNBC.com staff writer Zachary Roth hinted  that Ferguson, Missouri's April municipal elections are racially discriminatory, MSNBC host Joy Reid took that argument out for a spin on the Thursday, August 21 edition of her eponymous Reid Report program with guests MSNBC contributor Goldie Taylor and Missouri State Senator Maria Chappelle-Nadal (D). Oddly enough, Ms. Reid laid some…

Between Wednesday's evening newscasts and Thursday's morning shows, NBC, CBS, and ABC all praised Attorney General Eric Holder's visit to Ferguson, Missouri. On Wednesday's NBC Nightly News, correspondent Ron Allen proclaimed: "Those demanding justice for Michael Brown are relieved that Eric Holder is here because they simply don't trust the local authorities." [Listen to the audio or watch the…

Clinton Yates, Washington Post online columnist and commentator for Washington D.C’s WTOP radio station, decided to wade into the controversy in Ferguson by slamming those who oppose the looting and violence in the wake of Michael Brown’s death.  On Thursday, August 21, during his “My Take with Clinton Yates” segment on WTOP, which is the main news radio station for the political class in…

On Wednesday evening, Bill O’Reilly returned from vacation to anchor his Fox News Channel (FNC) program live to discuss the situation in Ferguson, Missouri since the death of Michael Brown on August 9. In just over an eight-minute-long “Talking Points” segment, O’Reilly addressed multiple aspects of the story, but specifically slammed MSNBC commentator and activist Al Sharpton as “this…

You had to know this was coming. The only question was who was going to be the first to do it. On Tuesday, echoing the Rolling Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil," wherein the devil slyly tells listeners that "it was you and me" who "killed the Kennedys" (making everyone responsible ensures that no one is truly responsible, allowing evil to advance), James Joiner, the Special Projects Editor at…

Here's a somewhat racial angle to the Ferguson, Mo., saga that you probably won't see MSNBC pick up on. The Daily Beast's Tim Mak today reported on "Ferguson's Other Race Problem: Riots Damaged Asian-Owned Stores." "Asian-Americans own a number of the stores lining West Florissant Avenue, where more than 20 businesses have suffered damage in the wake of Michael Brown’s killing," Mak noted,…

On Tuesday, August 19, Governor Jay Nixon (D-Mo.) called for the “vigorous prosecution” of Darren Wilson, the Missouri police officer who shot and killed Michael Brown last week.  Despite the highly charged rhetoric by the state’s Democratic governor, NBC’s Today was the only network morning show to acknowledge Nixon’s comments, giving it a mere 41 seconds on its Wednesday morning broadcast.…

Just to be clear, the racial makeup of a news organization should be irrelevant to its ability to cover current events. The answers to who, what, where, when, why, and how are colorblind. The practice of assigning reporters to stories based on the ethnicities or races of stories' subjects is offensive, and should be seen as insulting. But the fact is that news organizations and so-called…