Examining the Potential Al Sharpton Debacle…
Politico’s Keach Hagey writes about Al Sharpton and MSNBC…
Behind the criticism is discomfort with the selection of an activist for a role that can look a lot like being a news anchor, even if it actually involves dispensing news-flavored opinion. And if Sharpton does sign a contract with MSNBC, the choice is likely to raise some of the same kinds of questions about the political affiliations of the cable news operation’s personalities that came to a head last year when MSNBC suspended two of its hosts, Keith Olbermann and Joe Scarborough, for breaking NBC News’s rules barring undisclosed political donations.
“What’s happening is MSNBC is trying to strike a balance between trying to be a legitimate news outlet, and capturing some of the heat of Fox,” said Amy Alexander, author of the forthcoming book, Uncovering Race: A Black Journalist’s Story of Reporting and Reinvention. “What Fox has done is essentially to give their opinion programming the veneer of news. What troubles me is that cable news is on an inexorable march toward becoming plain old entertainment.”
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August 5, 2011 at 8:07 am
This article and other discussions miss the point as to why Sharpton should or should not be hired at MSNBC. They focus on Al’s politics and past scandals and not the fact that he is simply has no talent as a TV host. It’s the same problem that makes most talk radio personalities poor TV anchors; what works on radio doesn’t translate to TV (too much yelling and waving of arms etc.). There are exceptions (eg. Glenn Beck) but most can’t successfully make the transition from radio to TV. I compare it to the reason many great stage actors can’t work in film; they tend to yell at the screen because that’s what they needed to do on stage,