The TV Watch: Sharpton Brings His Pulpit to MSNBC [Surprise: NY Times criticizes MSNBC]

The TV Watch: Sharpton Brings His Pulpit to MSNBC [Surprise: NY Times criticizes MSNBC]

NY Times ^ | August 30, 2011 | ALESSANDRA STANLEY

Posted on Wednesday, August 31, 2011 10:26:19 AM by Pharmboy

Peter Kramer/MSNBC

snip… “I’m going to say what I mean and mean what I say.”

And that may be the problem with Mr. Sharpton’s cable news pulpit: what he means to say is in lockstep with every other MSNBC evening program, making the stretch between 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. a nonstop lecture on liberal values and what is wrong with the Republican Party.

…but other progressive hosts, particularly Rachel Maddow, have continued to attract viewers — not nearly as many as routinely watch Fox News, but more than for less partisan shows on CNN. MSNBC, which found success by preaching to the converted, has now hired an actual preacher.

snip…

snip…And in the evening at least, MSNBC is less a news provider than a carousel of liberal opinion — potential conflicts of interest are swept aside in the swirl of excitable guests.

Unfortunately, so is conflict. There is almost no real debate on any of these evening shows: a conservative is brought on and put on the spot, then in a different segment two people who agree with the host on a given issue answer the host’s questions, usually, with words like “you’re so right.”

On Monday, Mr. Sharpton followed the patented formula, bringing in two experts who agreed with him that recent efforts in North Carolina and other states to stiffen voter-identity requirements and restrict early voting would mostly affect those minorities and younger voters who turned out in record numbers for Barack Obama in 2008. Mr. Sharpton called it a “poll tax by another name.”

It’s an interesting issue, and not one that other MSNBC talk shows have addressed with the same degree of passion, but it would have been helpful to viewers to also learn how proponents of voting restrictions justify the legislation…………..

MORE…

(Excerpt) Read more at artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com …

via The TV Watch: Sharpton Brings His Pulpit to MSNBC [Surprise: NY Times criticizes MSNBC].

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