Most people who follow politics even at the most basic level understand that MSNBC is merely a media arm of the Democratic Party.
But in the 2024 election cycle, the network is outdoing itself.
While almost all news outlets in the modern era of reporting have their own editorial perspectives and leanings, some still attempt to uphold standards of fairness, balance, and ethical reporting.
This means that while they may fact-check claims from one side and provide context and counterpoints more than the other, they do not suppress or downplay information that may be inconvenient or unflattering to a particular party or agenda.
But MSNBC makes no such attempt at fairness.
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On Tuesday, former President Donald Trump dominated the Republican presidential primary race, sweeping up every contest except Vermont in the crucial Super Tuesday primaries and bringing him closer to clinching the GOP nomination, according to Fox News.
It should have been the duty of any media outlet purporting to have even a smidgen of journalistic integrity to be fair about covering his victory speech, allowing voters in remaining primaries to fully evaluate the candidates before making their decision.
An important note — as of Wednesday morning, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has suspended her campaign for president, as CNN reported, making Donald Trump the apparent victor by default in the Republican presidential primary and the presumptive Republican nominee for the position.
But the five-panel election coverage team at MSNBC on Tuesday might as well have put out another chair for the green-eyed monster as the network cut away quickly while Trump spoke to an enthused, cheering crowd.
As the former president said his campaign was “one of the finest run” ever, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow muttered, “Yeah. OK,” while others on the panel chuckled.
“Irresponsible to broadcast.” MSNBC cuts off Trump’s live speech because he “knowingly” lies on the air about things he’s “lied about before”. (Video: MSNBC) pic.twitter.com/n74nDy5YrD
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) March 6, 2024
Maddow was unapologetic about her network’s deliberate decision to cut off the former president’s speech. But her reasoning was laughable.
“I will say that it is a decision that we revisit constantly in terms of the balance between allowing somebody to knowingly lie on your air about things they’ve lied about before and you can predict they are going to lie about,” Maddow explained.
“And so, therefore, it is just irresponsible to allow them to do that.”
Actually, no.
Journalism’s role is to be a watchdog, not to censor and deprive the public of hearing directly from major political figures and candidates.
Airing the speech in full, warts and all, and then doing the hard work of reporting any inaccuracies gives viewers the chance to make an informed decision, not the decision network executives want them to make.
Will Trump win in November?
“It’s a balance between knowing that that’s irresponsible to broadcast and also knowing that, as the de-facto, soon-to-be de facto nominee of the Republican Party, this is not only the man who is likely to be the Republican candidate for president, but this is the way he’s running,” Maddow said.
At this point, MSNBC co-host Stephanie Ruhle surprisingly interjected with the correct approach: “Well, here’s how we balance it. “Why don’t we fact-check the hell out of him?”
Maddow agreed, “Yes. And we do that after the fact, and that is the best remedy that we’ve got.”
But Maddow, being Maddow, couldn’t help but add a caveat: “But it does not fix the fact that we broadcast it … honestly,” she added.
“But it’s stunning that he’s saying these things, and then people are hearing it,” Ruhle agreed.
So MSNBC, in effect, fixed that fact by just not broadcasting it.
Ah, the media of a fascist dictatorship. Deciding what the people can see because they think they know the “truth.” So disgusting and unAmerican.
— TrueFreedom (@Truefreedo69041) March 6, 2024
The panel then ignored Trump, who was still speaking, and went on to fact-check his “false claims.”
For those who just can’t get enough of Rachel Maddow & Co., the full segment is below:
MSNBC has truly mastered the secret of winning an argument: Act like the judge, jury, and executioner, and make sure you silence all opposing voices.
Their ratings would have been much higher if they had been broadcasting from communist Russia.
