MSNBC Set To Hire Sharpton; Black Journalists Slam Impending Hire
Source: Richard Prince / Richard Prince’s Journal-isms™
“After giving a nearly six-month tryout for the Internet talk show host Cenk Uygur, the cable news channel MSNBC is preparing to instead hand its 6 p.m. time slot to the Rev. Al Sharpton,” Brian Stelter reported Thursday for the New York Times.
Such a move would respond to complaints from the NAACP that “Currently, there are no African American hosts or anchors on any national news show, cable or broadcast network, from the hours of 5PM-11PM.”
But it is less likely to satisfy black journalists, who have continually criticized the networks for their failure to place journalists of color in these key prime-time slots.
When rumors surfaced this week that Sharpton was under consideration for the MSNBC job, one NABJ member told colleagues without challenge, “This would still be just another non-journalist media ‘celebrity’ receiving a TV show based upon their name recognition, not their years of experience, training, ability and talent.”
Another listed five African Americans who have had their own cable news shows, and noted that all but one have been nonjournalists: Alan Keyes, prime time, MSNBC; Carlos Watson, weekend, MSNBC; the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, weekend, CNN; Arthel Neville, Talkback Live/daytime, CNN; D.L. Hughley, weekend, CNN. Only Neville has a journalism background.
Moreover, as David Zurawik noted Thursday in the Baltimore Sun, “While the TV industry defines the hours of 8 to 11 p.m. weeknights as prime time, the NAACP appears to be expanding the definition. That matters, because Sharpton would be the first African-American prime-time cable host, according to the NAACP’s definition.”
MSNBC has not commented on the reports that Sharpton is under consideration, and that did not change on Thursday morning. “No comment from us on this,” spokesman Jeremy Gaines told Journal-isms.
But Stelter reported that “Mr. Sharpton’s imminent hiring . . . was acknowledged by three people at the channel on condition of anonymity because the contract had not been signed.”
Sharpton, a civil rights activist and radio host once viewed as outside the mainstream, has been guest hosting in the 6 p.m. time slot for the last three weeks.
His politics would fit with MSNBC’s “progressive” political posture. Sharpton says on the website of the National Action Network, which he leads, “Rev. Al Sharpton uses ‘Activism TV’ to confront the Tea Party. As daily guest host on MSNBC from 6-7p.m. EST, Rev. Sharpton has shed light on GOP hypocrisy.”
Stelter continued, “There had been uncertainty about the 6 p.m. slot ever since the channel’s marquee anchor, Keith Olbermann, departed in January, prompting Ed Schultz to be moved to 10 p.m. from 6,” Stelter wrote. “Suddenly Mr. Uygur, who had been made a paid contributor to MSNBC months earlier, was handed 6 p.m., a big coup given that he had earlier campaigned to have his progressive Web show ‘The Young Turks’ picked up by MSNBC.
“He earned solid but not stand-out ratings; in late June the channel’s president, Phil Griffin, decided to try out Mr. Sharpton, and offered Mr. Uygur a new contract that included a weekend show, but not a higher-profile weekday show.
“Mr. Uygur, who by most accounts was well liked within MSNBC, said in an interview that he turned down the new contract because he felt Mr. Griffin had been the recipient of political pressure.”
Source: Richard Prince’s Journal-isms™
