What the heck is going on with MSNBC? Yes, Fox News can twist the facts and be all but a commercial for the RNC. CNN can undermine its brand as a network famous for sticking to old tried and true journalism school values and techniques — but also at the same time greatly boost its ratings — by fixating on a missing plane story until it makes an SNL sketch look like reality and itself look like a SNL sketch. But both Fox and CNN are still consolidating their niche in the market. MSNBC increasingly has become the foot in mouth and apology network. It may offer a home for progressives but it increasingly looks like a farm team for some yet unborn serious progressive news network.
The latest bucket of hot water thrown in its and its viewers faces comes in the form of a stunningly ill-advised segment that makes you wonder how some staffers became staffers. Who ever thought that on the Cinco de Mayo — a day that most news outlets use to honor the country’s Hispanic population — a purportedly serious news network would have some shmo wearing a sombrero that looks like it was purchased on a corner in Tijuana, shaking a maraca and drinking tequila on a segment on the holiday.
And it turns out the shmo is a producer.
Let’s run that line again:
And it turns out the shmo is a producer.
Here’s the segment so you can decide for yourself:
Two questions arise:
1. Whatever happened to treating journalism as a profession that has dignity instead of like a flop audition for American Idol or a trite college dorm riff? Whatever happened to treating a producer’s job as a gatekeeper’s job — a job where you impose some tight controls over the images that go out on your program, since branding is vital and you want to offer your viewers the best?
2. Should I hide next Passover? I shudder to think what supposedly funny bit of performance art irony is in store for MSNBC’s Passover story. If this is a precedent, turn off your TV sets next year on Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday. Or is this kind of supposedly funny treatment that comes across as mocking only done when it comes to Latinos?
The segment was correctly panned and sparked an MSNBC apology. Talking Points Memo:
President of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, Hugo Balta slammed MSNBC in a Tuesday statement.
“This is simply the worst example I have seen of a discriminatory stereotypical portrayal of any community by any media. The fact that this was done by a news organization is abominable,” Balta said. “It feeds to the ignorant misconceptions of a rich and proud people who unfortunately are too often portrayed as caricatures to be scoffed at. NAHJ denounces the actions taken by MSNBC’s ‘Way Too Early’ team for their capricious actions, lack of judgment, insensitivity and attack at the Mexican community.”
(Actually the segment should have been titled “Way too Much Air Time” for both the segment, and the producer).On Tuesday, MSNBC apologized for the segment, according to the Huffington Post.
“On Monday, Cinco De Mayo, ‘Way Too Early’ made sarcastic references to the way some Americans celebrate the holiday. It was not our intention to be disrespectful and we sincerely apologize for the ill-advised references,” MSNBC said in a statement.
Actually the segment should have been titled “Way too Much Air Time” for both the segment, and the producer.
The bottom line is that this was yet another chapter in the Dumbing Down of America and of the trend to not treat news or commentary with the kind of seriousness and dignity with which it was treated even 10 years ago.
MSNBC should change its name to MSNBCFIM: MSNBC Foot In Mouth.
Given the number of apologies this year, perhaps MSNBC should draft a generic apology so it can be slightly adapted and sent out every few months when a broadcaster or producer shows unprofessionalism or goes over the top.
The moral?
Sometimes if you lean too far forward you can fall flat on your face.
Or on another part of your anatomy.
Which is what happened here in this example of bad, amateurish and self-destructive “broadcasting” that may seem cute at the time but will prove damaging to branding in the long run.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.