You know NBC is experiencing backlash over its planned Hillary Clinton miniseries when a liberal National Public Radio reporter criticizes NBC’s decision to air a miniseries prior to the 2016 presidential election. Appearing on the Melissa Harris-Perry show on August 10, NPR reporter David Folkenflik had some harsh words about the upcoming documentary.
Folkenflik, commenting on the Republican National Committee chairman's threat to boycott NBC and CNN if they go through with planned Clinton documentaries, argued that:
Reince Priebus has done a very in some ways clever and adroit move, because he is saying, look, either you guys at NBC are going to look like you’re just Republican bashers, or you’re going to look weak, as though somehow you’ve caved in doing something highly critical. [Read more after jump.]
Folkenflik then called out MSNBC’s liberal identity right in front of host Melissa Harris-Perry, and refused to hold anything back:
This isn’t just done in the vacuum of NBC News. This is done with this very channel, MSNBC, and the liberal identity that is attached to it, for good cause.
Harris-Perry tried her best to separate NBC News from MSNBC, acting as if she was a representative of MSNBC and not NBC News:
There’s an NBC entertainment division, there’s an NBC news division, there’s MSNBC. I think many of us who work at MSNBC might have various opinions about the embrace of progressivism or liberalism on the channel overall.
Perry doubled down on her attempts to separate MSNBC from NBC News, this time bringing up Hillary Clinton sycophant and MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell as her example:
When you have journalists like Chuck Todd or like Andrea Mitchell, I think they would sort of firmly reject the idea that they themselves are operating with a particular sort of ideological bent, but I think that is exactly right, because they all say NBC in them, right, it becomes really easy to lump them into a pot and basically say, NBC is creating Hillary Clinton propaganda (inaudible).
Despite Ms. Perry’s best attempts, it was refreshing to see a liberal journalist not on NBC's payroll calling out NBC for its conflict of interest in the upcoming Hillary program. The MSNBC host’s absurd attempts to separate MSNBC from NBC News are especially ridiculous given that when you go to the MSNBC website it links you directly to the NBC news website. There may be a wall of separation between NBC News and MSNBC, but it's paper thin and not very high.
See relevant transcript below.
Melissa Harris Perry
August 10, 2013
10:55 a.m. Eastern
DAVID FOLKENFLIK: I’ve got to say, we have to acknowledge here that Republicans are doing this, not just simply thinking about NBC. And obviously, NBC News itself would not be a producer.
MELISSA HARRIS-PERRY: Right, it’s NBC Entertainment. That’s right.
FOLKENFLIK: (inaudible) very clear about this, and you can understand the frustration of Chuck and of Andrea, because they say, look, we’re not going to win no matter what happens on this one. But it is also worth pointing out; this isn’t just done in the vacuum of NBC News. This is done with this very channel, MSNBC, and the liberal identity that is attached to it, for good cause. You know, if you think back to the 2008 convention, you know, on the floor of the Republican National Convention, people were, you know, in St. Paul, chanting, you know, NBC, in a disparaging way. The strong embrace of the liberal identity that MSNBC has attached to that -- Reince Priebus has done a very in some ways clever and adroit move, because he is saying, look, either you guys at NBC are going to look like you’re just Republican bashers, or you’re going to look weak, as though somehow you’ve caved in doing something highly critical.
HARRIS-PERRY: I think this is such an important point. There’s an NBC entertainment division, there’s an NBC news division, there’s MSNBC. I think many of us who work at MSNBC might have various opinions about the embrace of progressivism or liberalism on the channel overall. And certainly, when you have journalists like Chuck Todd or like Andrea Mitchell, I think they would sort of firmly reject the idea that they themselves are operating with a particular sort of ideological bent, but I think that is exactly right, because they all say NBC in them, right, it becomes really easy to lump them into a pot and basically say, NBC is creating Hillary Clinton propaganda (inaudible). I promise, so much more, particularly on this consolidation question, because you know, that’s happening. So more is coming up next. Stay with us.
