I really hate to have to correct my fellow Progressives, but when they make False Equivalencies between news programs like Fox News and CNN and MSNBC, it drives me up the wall! Ive had to challenge these fallacious comparisons in the past, and youd think, when Ive brought irrefutable evidence to thoroughly discredit and smack down such *false equivalencies,* that my Progressive friends would change their ideological tune. Not so! Just last night one of them dumped on MSNBC, whose hosts describe themselves as progressives, but are nothing of the sort, as Corporate establishment shills ... Okay, first off, MSNBC is a network cable news organization with the usual sponsorship limitations. Secondly, its politics, while mostly left-of-center, are not monolithic (e.g. Republican *Morning Joe* Scarborough). But there are several Progressive hosts, or hosts who may be close to Progressive, and who regularly have Progressive guests on a somewhat regular basis. These include those that would certainly qualify as Progressive: Chris Hayes (Editor-at-Large of The Nation magazine), Rachel Maddow, Ed Schultz, Ezra Klein, Steve Kornacki, Melissa Harris-Perry, Alex Wagner, Lawrence ODonnell, etc. Does this mean that MSNBC is as consistently and comprehensively Progressive as, say, Democracy Now? Of course not! But, in this Progressives opinion, for what it is on a major corporate network Im glad its there--especially for the people who wouldnt ordinarily see ANY Progressive viewpoints on their cable news, like CNN! And although the MSBNC hosts I mentioned may be operating under corporate limitations, they do a pretty good job of covering stories. But they certainly dont deserve to be written off as Corporate establishment shills ... !!! Thus, it has been my experience that fellow Progressives who make such *false equivalencies*, or gripe about MSNBC like any other mainstream media (like PBS or NPR News, who deserve it) either (a) havent really taken the time to watch enough to make a more nuanced evaluation, or (b) are so blinded by their anti-media ideology that they refuse to give it a chance. Then there are those political middle-of-the-roaders, who like to believe that theyre being fair-minded equal opportunity critics when they categorically assert that the Right-wing has Fox News and the Left-wing has MSNBC--both equally beholden to their respective party-line interests, and, therefore equivalent propaganda. So--for the hundredth time--heres an example why both groups of critics are dead wrong. I take this example from last night, since the criticism was made last night. Mind you, I could have used examples from other MSNBC hosts, but I took the first program I watch when I get home from work. So to MSNBCs critics, please show me one Fox News program where the host(s) take issue with the Republican Party and give them a slap-down like Rachel Maddow does to both the Republican AND Democratic parties! Only a Progressive position could offer such a perspective! msnbc/rachel-maddow-show
Posted on: Wed, 19 Nov 2014 23:03:46 +0000
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