Al Sharpton couldn’t wait to insert himself into the Ferguson narrative. But Politico’s Glenn Thrush wonders if that might be an issue for MSNBC:
The duality of @TheRevAl as MSNBC host and on-the-ground activist/protest leader in Ferguson needs to be addressed in a serious way, no?
— Glenn Thrush (@GlennThrush) August 18, 2014
Thrush’s Politico colleague Dylan Byers weighed in:
MSNBC doesn't care. @GlennThrush: The duality of @TheRevAl as MSNBC host and on-the-ground activist/protest leader needs to be addressed…
— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) August 18, 2014
MSNBC wanted a pot stirrer, not a legitimate journalist. Sharpton fit the bill.
@DylanByers @GlennThrush @TheRevAl isn't it part of the reason they hired him?
— Oren Yaniv (@OrenYaniv) August 18, 2014
https://twitter.com/Joe7Seven7/status/501419407240069121
@GlennThrush @errollouis This is hardly the first such example for @TheRevAl as MSNBC host.
— Steven I. Weiss (@steveniweiss) August 18, 2014
Some have pointed out that other news network hosts have let their own views color their coverage:
https://twitter.com/dan_munz/status/501421090447839232
@GlennThrush @TheRevAl I don't think so. Ed Schultz did the same thing during the #WIgov recall. Sean Hannity does it too.
— Russell Drew (@RussOnPolitics) August 18, 2014
But Thrush thinks Sharpton is a special case:
@RussOnPolitics @TheRevAl Schultz/Hannity were peripheral players…Sharpton is a central civil rights player, and blessed by the WH
— Glenn Thrush (@GlennThrush) August 18, 2014
For what it’s worth, Sharpton seems happy with his role on MSNBC:
@GlennThrush @DylanByers Answer to question 5: http://t.co/jO5AkQZ1il
— Tim Devine (@Devine2013) August 18, 2014
Just as long as he can keep on doing that thing he does:
That is part of my role as a civil rights leader of National Action Network and we’ve been doing that for decades, and it’s part of my role now that I also do talk radio and talk television. Clearly I’m not on as a newsman, I’m on with an opinion advocating certain things, debating people that may agree or may disagree, and that’s the role of a civil rights activist. It’s to put a spotlight on things that would have been ignored.
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