Activist Anchors and Blueberry Pie Liberals
CNN’s Howard Kurtz seems perplexed over why MSNBC would allow Al Sharpton to be both an active and leading participant in rallies that have erupted around the Trayvon Martin shooting case and also a news anchor covering the same. This from NewsBusters:
“How can MSNBC allow that?” Kurtz wondered about Sharpton whom he sees as a “commentator,” but one “representing a news organization.” As Kurtz pointed out in his Daily Beast column, last Thursday Sharpton called for the suspect’s arrest at a rally and then hosted his MSNBC show the next hour where Martin’s parents were his guests and he plugged for his rally later that evening. Sharpton then asked for money during the ensuing rally.
“It seems to me that by sandwiching his show between his activism, Sharpton was essentially covering himself,” Kurtz wrote. “In what other context would a news organization allow someone to become such an integral part of the story and then represent the organization? Shouldn’t Sharpton have to choose between his dual roles?”
Kurt also addressed the strange dichotomy on his Sunday CNN talk show, Reliable Sources. From the transcript:
KURTZ: Lauren Ashburn, how on earth can Al Sharpton go there, and be an activist and stand with the parents and he asked people to contribute money and he went to the Justice Department with the parents of Trayvon Martin.
LAUREN ASHBURN, Daily-Download.com: Right.
KURTZ: And then he does his show and then he speaks at the rally again?
ASHBURN: He’s covering himself.
KURTZ: He’s covering himself.
ASHBURN: Right.
KURTZ: How can MSNBC allow that?
ASHBURN: It is a little hard to see how that is possible. However, it’s not like Al Sharpton is a card-carrying journalist here. I mean, he’s an opinionator as we can call them in the business, and everybody knows it. So, it’s not as if there’s some, you know, hidden, mysterious thing about him. We know who Al Sharpton is.
KURTZ: But here he – it seems to me MSNBC can say, okay, this is such an important case and you can go and you can be an activist and you won’t do your show on this subject, or you can do your show on this subject but don’t be standing with the parents that are rallying and accompanying them to the Justice Department.
How can Sharpton and MSNBC get away with it? The answer is fairly simple and I suspect somewhere deep down Kurtz knows it. MSNBC and Sharpton get a pass because, Liberal. That is to say, progressive liberals play by one set of rules and expect everyone else to play by another. In this instance, consider it it a case of blueberry pie journalism:
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