This will be short and might miss a few points. MSNBC may have just lost a very talented on-air personality.
The New York Times has reported that Melissa Harris-Perry will not appear this weekend on MSNBC’s coverage of the 2016 Democratic primary in South Carolina. She was asked to appear, but not to host her show. She was just to be an on-air talent reading copy and discussing all matters political, but not social, racial or otherwise, during her time slot.
Here is her statement to the employees of her eponymous show:
“Here is the reality: Our show was taken — without comment or discussion or notice — in the midst of an election season,” she wrote in the email, which became public on Friday. “After four years of building an audience, developing a brand and developing trust with our viewers, we were effectively and utterly silenced.”...
“I care only about substantive, meaningful and autonomous work,” she wrote in her email. “When we can do that, I will return — not a moment earlier.”
Melissa Harris-Perry
This is not good. I love her show. The article about this is here. She is complaining about “The Place for Politics” rebranding of the entire network. Instead of being a place for progressives to view the entire panoply of the progressive experience, we get non-stop breathless commentary from such luminaries as (urp) Joe Scarborough. (Sorry, I had to throw up in my mouth a little bit.)
You know, some of us are wanting to watch something other than the circus that is politics nowadays.
I am very interested and think of myself as a bit of a political junkie, but I have to agree with Ms. Harris-Perry.
“I will not be used as a tool for their purposes,” she wrote. “I am not a token, mammy or little brown bobble head. I am not owned by Lack, Griffin or MSNBC. I love our show. I want it back.”
I am tired of the non-stop, “Did you see that?!” carryings-on that has become network news. I want more than that because I would like to think of myself as a well-rounded human being.
I guess MSNBC is thinking otherwise.
I’m out. Go ahead and let fly, if you wish.