Medhi Hasan is booted from MSNBC

[Patooka]

Mehdi Hasan’s show canceled by MSNBC as part of weekend shakeup

MSNBC has canceled Mehdi Hasan’s Sunday night opinion show as part of a broader shakeup across the network’s lineup of weekend programming. Hasan, who will remain with the network as an…

thehill.com

This is fucked. Hasan obviously has very specific biases (and to be clear I agree with most of them), but the one thing he was good at was he always scrutinised his guests and held them accountable for things they've said. I can't think of a single instance where he openly fellated someone on air the way Jake Tapper, Chuck Todd or Sean Hannity does.

 

[steve_bank]

For e MSNBC and FOX are flip sides of the same biased coin.

When Al Sharpton joined MSNBC during the Obama years he said on air he would never criticize Obama.

 

[Elixir]

MSNBC and FOX are flip sides of the same biased coin.

Yeah, exactly. Except that one side of that coin is dedicated to the destruction of American democracy, and the other side is trying to preserve it.

 

[Jarhyn]

MSNBC and FOX are flip sides of the same biased coin.

Yeah, exactly. Except that one side of that coin is dedicated to the destruction of American democracy, and the other side is trying to preserve it.

Over the years I've come to realize that it's more like two shelves than two sides, at least as relates to news sources like the NYT. Both shelves slant right, one shelf is higher, and that which falls off the right side of the leftmost shelf lands on the leftmost side of the rightmost shelf and continues to roll.

Both sides of the media are conservative, and both sides here, at least WRT the NYT, are designed to erode progressive values over time... It's just that you can't do that unless you have media that slants rightward, but which is designed for putting subtle pressure on left leaning audiences; you need a nose under the camel's tent as it were, a pot of cool but warming water to boil the frog (yes, I know real frogs jump out). That's what is going on here and why both sides ARE the same, with respect to the media...

But only by recognizing that slant to the right, even on the "leftist" media, can we actually expend the effort to hold ourselves against the rightward gradient that is created by the conservative owners of said media.

 

[Elixir]

But only by recognizing that slant to the right, even on the "leftist" media, can we actually expend the effort to hold ourselves against the rightward gradient that is created by the conservative owners of said media.

Can we, though? In the face of a preponderance of people who unthinkingly and unconditionally accept the rightward slant, embracing its effects and clamoring for the next step toward fascism?
We can brace ourselves but I am not sure we can “hold”.
I have already made plans with a realtor to come in the Spring and help me get poised to nail the hell out of the US in short order if the chips fall the wrong way.

 

[Patooka]

I'm not sure bias is the problem. The bigger picture is people who call themselves "journalists" but act as de facto mouthpieces for politicians.

For example, I very much disagree with Andrew Neal's opinion on pretty much everything. But I certainly respect how he didn't give Ben Shapiro a pass when he interviewed him. To use an Australian example Kerry O'Brien was like that as well. It was a rite of passage in Australian politics to survive an interview with him.

That is what I think is missing nowadays. The left v right slant is incidental in comparison.

 

[ZiprHead]

Don’t cancel "The Mehdi Hasan Show"!

"The Mehdi Hasan Show'' has been on air for over three years. With over half a million viewers on Peacock and hundreds of thousand on Youtube, Mehdi Hasan has received praise for his credible political analysis and sharp interviewing skills, with high profile guests such as Jon Stewart...

sign.moveon.org

 

[Politesse]

The media is certainly anti-Progressive, and has to be. You don't make money catering to the radical fringe, you make it by writing click-bait-y headlines that make your average newspaper reader upset.

 

[Patooka]

You don't make money catering to the radical fringe,

Yes. Yes you can. It's done all the time. You just need the right radicals (pun very much intended).

 

[Patooka]

And Mehdi has told MSNBC to go fuck themselves;

Mehdi Hasan announces he's leaving MSNBC after show cancellation

Hasan’s departure comes after it was announced in November that MSNBC was canceling his show.

www.politico.com

I really hope he lands on his feet. As interviewers go, he should be the standard.