On Tuesday, all three network morning shows seized on left-wing MSNBC host and controversial activist Al Sharpton attacking President Trump as a “racist” and “bigot.” What was completely missing from the coverage was any mention of Sharpton’s own history of offensive language and racial divisiveness.
“Now, another target of the President’s attacks, the Reverend Al Sharpton, is firing back, accusing the President of trying to sell racist behavior,” correspondent Hallie Jackson declared on NBC’s Today show, after denouncing Trump’s “relentless attacks on prominent African-American Democrats.”
Moments later in the report, Jackson proclaimed: “But the President has plenty of critics after his attacks on yet another African-American lawmaker, Elijah Cummings, whose districts includes part of Baltimore, and now, African-American civil rights activist and MSNBC host Al Sharpton, calling him a ‘con man,’ after Sharpton visited the city to stand up for its people.”
At least Jackson identified Sharpton as an “MSNBC host,” unlike her reporting on Monday that skipped that fact.
A clip then ran of Jackson conducting a softball interview with Sharpton on her 10:00 a.m. ET hour MSNBC show on Monday:
JACKSON: Reverend Sharpton, what is your message to President Trump?
AL SHARPTON: He should not continue to try and sell this racist behavior, to try and make the country more divided for his own political gain.
On ABC’s Good Morning America, correspondent Kyra Phillips lamented: “And even as his critics call his language inflammatory and divisive, the President seems unwilling to let his feud with Congressman Cummings fizzle. And now, President Trump has another target in his crosshairs, the Reverend Al Sharpton.”
The reporter later decried the President “calling the civil rights activist a ‘con man’ and ‘a troublemaker’ who ‘hates whites and cops.’” She touted how “Sharpton fired back,” as a soundbite followed of him ranting: “I’m going to keep making trouble for bigots. As far as me being a con man, if he really thought I was a con man, he’d be nominating me for his cabinet.”
CBS This Morning also jumped on Sharpton’s press conference, with correspondent Errol Barnett telling viewers: “On Monday, President Trump called the Reverend Al Sharpton a ‘con man’ who quote, ‘hates whites and cops’....Sharpton criticized the President for his attacks on Cummings and his district, which includes Baltimore.” A clip was featured of Sharpton asserting that the President “has a particular venom for blacks and people of color.” The headline on screen simply identified Sharpton as a “Civil Rights Icon.”
While the networks portrayed Sharpton as just another victim of Trump’s “racism,” the coverage ignored Sharpton’s offensive and anti-Semitic rhetoric inciting violence during the 1991 Crown Heights riots or the fact that he promoted false rape accusations against four white men during the infamous Tawana Brawley case in 1987. Even as reporters bristled at the President labeling Sharpton a “con man,” none of the supposed journalists recalled recent financial scandals involving Sharpton’s for-profit businesses and the National Action Network.
If the media are going to insist on rallying around a charlatan like Sharpton, they should at least examine his own controversial background while reporting on him.
Here are excerpts of the July 30 report on NBC’s Today show:
7:12 AM ET
(...)
HALLIE JACKSON: Listen, some allies of the President are hesitant about his relentless attacks on prominent African-American Democrats, but that is not stopping President Trump, who’s again going after Congressman Elijah Cummings, tweeting overnight that Cummings, who heads the Oversight Committee, should investigate himself over why Baltimore struggles with issues like poverty and crime. Now, another target of the President’s attacks, the Reverend Al Sharpton, is firing back, accusing the President of trying to sell racist behavior.
(...)
7:13 AM ET
JACKSON: But the President has plenty of critics after his attacks on yet another African-American lawmaker, Elijah Cummings, whose districts includes part of Baltimore, and now, African-American civil rights activist and MSNBC host Al Sharpton, calling him a “con man,” after Sharpton visited the city to stand up for its people.
JACKSON [TO SHARPTON]: Reverend Sharpton, what is your message to President Trump?
AL SHARPTON: He should not continue to try and sell this racist behavior, to try and make the country more divided for his own political gain.
(...)
7:14 AM ET
JACKSON: Now, after then-candidate Trump, looking for support from black voters, pledged on the campaign trail to help lift up urban neighborhoods...
DONALD TRUMP: What the hell do you have to lose?
JACKSON: ...the former Republican National Committee chair is pushing the president to make good on that promise.
MICHAEL STEELE [MSNBC NEWS POLITICAL ANALYST]: The streets are ready for you, the neighborhoods are ready for you, folks want to talk to you. So just show up. Put the tweet down, brother, and show up.
(...)
