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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIn firing Melissa Harris-Perry, MSNBC chose white-male mediocrity over real intellect
http://qz.com/628587/in-firing-melissa-harris-perry-msnbc-chose-white-male-mediocrity-over-intellect/?utm_source=YPLFor the past four years, political commentator Melissa Harris-Perry has been a shining light of intellect and sanity on MSNBC. But after an email in which Harris-Perry protested her treatment by network leadership was released publicly on Feb. 26, MSNBC officially severed ties with one of the most credible, authoritative, and intelligent assets in its arsenal....
Now, after shamefully cutting back her screen time over the last few months and pre-empting her coverage with incremental campaign-cycle news, the networks top brass have canceled her eponymous show. Why? For being what she always was: a confident, intelligent, forthright woman who will not accept anything less than the professional courtesy she deserves....
Harris-Perrys departure comes at a time when MSNBC, a one-time liberal bastion of cable news, is in flux. The network recently adopted a new sloganthe Place for Politicsand it has accordingly scaled back its roster of opinion-makers while boosting its straight political news coverage, perhaps in an effort to position itself as more ideologically neutral. Ronan Farrow and Joy Reid have been demoted to correspondent roles, and Rev. Al Sharpton was shuffled out of primetime to Sunday mornings. Meanwhile MSNBC has expanded roles for the likes of Rachel Maddow, Brian Williams, and the co-anchors of Morning Joe, Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough....
It didnt have to be this way. When the network hired trans advocate and writer Janet Mock in 2014, it seemed to be making an active effort to include voices that news audiences wouldnt find on CNN (and certainly not on Fox). Likewise when executives gave Harris-Perry carte blanche to feature writers, thinkers, and activists of color like Jelani Cobb, Akhil Reed Amar, Cristina Beltrán, and Cornell William Brooks, even as upwards of 75% of guests on shows like Face the Nation and Meet the Press were white men.
Now, after shamefully cutting back her screen time over the last few months and pre-empting her coverage with incremental campaign-cycle news, the networks top brass have canceled her eponymous show. Why? For being what she always was: a confident, intelligent, forthright woman who will not accept anything less than the professional courtesy she deserves....
Harris-Perrys departure comes at a time when MSNBC, a one-time liberal bastion of cable news, is in flux. The network recently adopted a new sloganthe Place for Politicsand it has accordingly scaled back its roster of opinion-makers while boosting its straight political news coverage, perhaps in an effort to position itself as more ideologically neutral. Ronan Farrow and Joy Reid have been demoted to correspondent roles, and Rev. Al Sharpton was shuffled out of primetime to Sunday mornings. Meanwhile MSNBC has expanded roles for the likes of Rachel Maddow, Brian Williams, and the co-anchors of Morning Joe, Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough....
It didnt have to be this way. When the network hired trans advocate and writer Janet Mock in 2014, it seemed to be making an active effort to include voices that news audiences wouldnt find on CNN (and certainly not on Fox). Likewise when executives gave Harris-Perry carte blanche to feature writers, thinkers, and activists of color like Jelani Cobb, Akhil Reed Amar, Cristina Beltrán, and Cornell William Brooks, even as upwards of 75% of guests on shows like Face the Nation and Meet the Press were white men.
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In firing Melissa Harris-Perry, MSNBC chose white-male mediocrity over real intellect (Original Post)
KamaAina
Mar 2016
OP
Fuck'em. I hope Dr. H-P will find an outlet somewhere else soon. This is why we fight. nt
thereismore
Mar 2016
#2
spanone
(135,859 posts)1. K&R...
thereismore
(13,326 posts)2. Fuck'em. I hope Dr. H-P will find an outlet somewhere else soon. This is why we fight. nt
GeorgeGist
(25,322 posts)3. The 1% are getting paranoid.
nichomachus
(12,754 posts)4. I thought they fired her
Because she stomped off her show in a hissy fit.