'Meet The Press' In Hot Water After Airing Gun Violence Video Featuring Only Black Shooters - HuffPo

[WillyT]

'Meet The Press' In Hot Water After Airing Gun Violence Video Featuring Only Black Shooters
The Huffington Post | By Adam Goldberg
Posted: 06/21/2015 8:14 pm EDT Updated: 2 hours ago

<snip>

'Meet The Press' is taking heat for a video the program aired about gun violence.

In the wake of the Charleston church shooting, host Chuck Todd introduced a video on Sunday morning featuring testimonies of convicted murderers, calling the issue "color-blind." Inmates at New York's Sing Sing Correctional Facility opened up about the regret they had after using guns. However, only black prisoners were shown.

The homogenous racial makeup of the video struck some viewers as inappropriate, especially given the apparently racially-motivated killings by a white man this week of 9 black victims at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in South Carolina.

'Meet The Press' panelist and Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson pointed out the apparent disconnect.

"I thought that was a very powerful piece," he said. "One small thing I would mention, because I haven't seen the whole piece, is there wasn't a terribly diverse set of people who were talking. Right now, we're talking about a horrific crime committed by a white man. We're talking about the search for two escaped murderers who are white men. So, we should point out that this is not just an African-American problem."

Todd responded that "it wasn't intended to be that way."

Users on social media also expressed frustration with the perceived tone-deafness of the video:

<snip>

More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/21/meet-the-press-gun-violence-video_n_7632814.html

[Liberal_in_LA]

1. kick

[oldandhappy]

2. oh gag

hard to believe the producer is this dumb

[Skittles]

3. "it wasn't intended to be that way"

isn't that what they always say?

[progree]

18. That, and "mistakes were made"

[Skittles]

26. "I'm sorry if people were offended"

[progree]

34. "after days of prayer and soul-searching, I've decided to check myself into rehab"

[Skittles]

35. "I am going to spend more time with my family"

[cui bono]

37. "No one could have known that blah blah blah..."

No one except everyone but the person talking!!!

[Aerows]

41. "It blindsided experts..." n/t

[A Simple Game]

61. Well not real experts, just the ones we have on our show that say what we want them to say. n/t

[d_legendary1]

64. "Our focus group has told us that we needed to involve the African American

community in our stories. We did not anticipate such a negative response to our reporting."

[Skittles]

70. "What about Chicago?"

[d_legendary1]

74. "Remember Katrina?"

[Spitfire of ATJ]

69. Then there's this...

[progree]

44. I returned from a trip ... and discovered that my wife was having an affair...

I returned from a trip a few months back and discovered that my wife was having an affair. Heartbroken and devastated, I informed our church leadership and requested a sabbatical to focus exclusively on my marriage and family. As her affair continued, we separated. Sadly and embarrassingly, I subsequently sought comfort in a friend and developed an inappropriate relationship myself.

...Both my wife and I are heartbroken over our actions and we ask you to pray for us and our family that God would give us the grace we need to weather this heart wrenching storm. We are amazingly grateful for the team of men and women who are committed to walking this difficult path with us. Please pray for the healing of deep wounds and we kindly ask that you respect our privacy.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Billy Graham’s grandson steps down from Florida megachurch after admitting an affair
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026879261

[Aerows]

42. Well I for one

am shocked, Shocked, SHOCKED to discover gamblin' goin' on in here.

[Aerows]

39. "No one could have foreseen" n/t

[Cosmocat]

75. The fuck it wasn't

He did that piece before SC as a dutiful meme pushing piece being the sell out whore he is.

Then SC hit and being the LAZY ASS sell out whore he is, he just rant it anyways.

This would have done what it was intended to so, keep the conservative masses comfortable in their sense of moral superiority had it been played without SC having happened several days earlier.

Fucking worthless, inept, dim witted sellout scumbag.

[irisblue]

4. chucky toad

deserves all the hot water he gets

[calimary]

58. He really deserves a nice replacement.

I'd put Rachel Maddow in there, if it were up to me.

I STILL think they oughta give Rachel a Sunday-Thursday schedule. Let her have Fridays off. So the regular programming ends with Chris Hayes's show. THEN, make a two-hour block after that, and give it to John Fugelsang. Let him make a topical comedy-variety show. We're losing Jon Stewart. Why don't we give John Fugelsang a try - to fill up that gap a little? And it could repeat several times over the weekend.

[rurallib]

67. you see the problem with this proposal do you not?

this makes entirely too much sense.
For one thing, putting a real news person in charge of MTP is way against tradition.

And then Fugelsang - what to say? He is simply too smart.
The whole idea of TV news is to push the corporate agenda

[merrily]

5. NBC News. Right wing, as is most mass media.

Our allegedly mainstream choices today seem to be blatant, shameless right wing, like FOX, or stealth right wing, pretending to be classier, like the other networks. Or MSNBC, which is run by RW NBC News, but trying to appeal to establishment Democrats, especially later in the day. But, only because MSNBC could not attract enough of FOX's viewers when MSNBC tried all RW hosts.

Step right up folks and take yer pick.

More than ever, we need an Edward R. Murrow on steroids and we get a Chuck Toad. Sigh.

[YOHABLO]

8. MSNBC had their Edward R.Murrow in Phil Donahue and perhaps in Keith Olbermann. They're gone.

[merrily]

11. Good points. At the very least, they were more honest than a Chuck Toad.

From footage, anyway, and the movie, it appears that Murrow was smoother and managed to avoid t seeming blatantly partisan.

The movie made it seem he almost singlehandedly vitiated HUAC. That may or may not have been the reality. If true, I don't think someone who appeared blatantly partisan could have pulled it off. Ditto Walter Cronkite and the Vietnam War. Supposedly, LBJ said, "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost the nation."

[Freelancer]

28. Don't forget Dylan Ratigan and Martin Bashir!

Dylan Ratigan was my favorite. He could ask a question so long that you forgot what it was all about. I miss him. He went off to become the Swamp Thing's human side-kick ... or to start making those rubber shoes with the toes in them. Or was it hydroponics? I dunno -- I forget.

[CrispyQ]

53. I think MSNBC gives their hosts approved topics/politicians they can disucss.

I remember the Chris Christie bridgegate issue. They let Chris, Ed & Rachel slam on Christie for weeks! That tells me that TPTB don't want Christie in the White House, so let the liberals go after him. Bet they don't let Chris, Ed & Rachel go after Jeb. They may be allowed a few one liners, but there will be no expose on The Bush Crime Family.

The liberal media is only as liberal as the conservative corporations that own it.

[tavernier]

54. Jon Stewart, my go to for the truth.

Comedy Central, the only place to get honest news.

Pitiful, ain't it?

[Spitfire of ATJ]

19. Read this....

The original "If It's Sunday, It's Still Conservative" from 2006:

http://mediamatters.org/research/2006/04/04/if-its-sunday-its-still-conservative/135320

The followup:

http://mediamatters.org/research/sundayshowreport/

None of the Sunday shows ever addressed the imbalance.

White men in particular dominate Sunday Talk.

http://mediamatters.org/research/2015/02/11/report-state-of-the-sunday-morning-political-ta/202437

Which is fine if you are entertained watching a white sausage party talk about women or race.

[merrily]

23. thanks. Watching Berni live on CSpan now (thanks again, elleng) Bookmarking.

[cui bono]

38. +1

[Blue_In_AK]

6. I guess

they just couldn't find any white shooters who were sorry or had regret?

[theycallmetrinity]

12. Wrong prison

There's only around 180 White inmates there
versus almost 1000 Black inmates

[Snotcicles]

7. I think MSNBC still wants to be a bigger gear in the machine. nt

[theycallmetrinity]

9. It's sing sing

Black inmates makeup almost 80% of the inmate population there.

I don't think it was intentional .

Go to the 3 prisons in Maine and see the inmate population there by racial make up.

Guess what it is almost all white

[Spitfire of ATJ]

10. "Todd responded that "it wasn't intended to be that way.""

Oh, teabag me, Chucky.

[theycallmetrinity]

13. It's done by the warden of the prison , he looks at case file for gun crimes

He puts out a memo and asks inmates if they would like to be interviewed .

It's not like the news agency picks the inmates .

Probably the few white inmates who were in for gun crimes said no.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

21. He should be fired for being an idiot then....

We just had a white guy shoot a bunch of black people and a white guy airs a bunch of black criminals as if to say the shooter was justified.

[theycallmetrinity]

22. Fired because no white inmate stepped up to say they regret using a gun during a crime?

It shows more character for the Black inmates that agreed to be filmed showing regret.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

25. Fired for stupidity for airing the segment AT ALL....

He could have done a segment on the explosion of hate groups and white supremacists since Obama was elected or the "code" pervasive in the media.

[Gormy Cuss]

47. Fired for not having the common sense to see this casting was loaded.

After all, if they couldn't find white murderers who would talk in Sing Sing they could've tried Greenhaven or Rahway. Hell, they even could have sent the crew for a weekend vacay in Thomaston.

[cui bono]

40. You are really missing the point. MTP producers CHOSE to air that story, they did not have to air it

They CHOSE to air a piece that included ONLY blacks just days after the Charlestown murder of 9 blacks by a WHITE TERRORIST. At this same time there are two WHITE ESCAPED MURDERER CONVICTS on the loose.
BUT... MTP decides to air a piece showing ONLY black criminals.

That is the point. The big picture.

[Bettie]

50. And the segment was already done

they could easily have used it later on, but they chose to go with the not-so-subtle narrative that "black men commit murder, this one white guy is an outlier".

That is the message the segment sent by airing it this week and I think that is the narrative they meant to send.

[LanternWaste]

63. You have objective and supporting evidence for your allegation

You have objective and supporting evidence for your allegation specific to the particular prison in question, yes?

[Evergreen Emerald]

66. How do you know this?

The two inmates who spoke were compelling. I would like to see the rest of it.
Having said that, Eugene Robinson was correct.

[LovingA2andMI]

14. K/R!!!

And NBC #FIRECHUCKTODD NOW!

[senseandsensibility]

15. Chuckie doesn't plan anything, decide anything

or most of all, write anything. He is a tool! But we knew that.

[sgtbenobo]

27. Chucky Todd...

.... DC's newest hamlet. Always the pretender. But, never a true queen. GE WILL NEVER LET HIM TAKE TAKE OFF HIS PARTY DRESS.

Carry on.

[lib87]

16. it wasn't intended to be that way

Bullshit. You have a mass shooting spree by a shooter who says he was motivated solely by racism and rage toward Black people. And your program decides to air a segment on Black men in jail for gun violence in response to a racist massacre. As if using the time to talk to more about racism, the horrible effects on marginalized people and solutions wouldn't have been a good idea.

[raindaddy]

17. Meet The Press? What press? Network journalism is dead!!!

No wonder their ratings are in the tank!

[vlakitti]

20. Washington Insider Brain Death

If you need more evidence the media, the US establishment and the Washington insiders crowd is brain dead, this is it.

The fools seemingly discussed doing this at length before they did it and nobody could figure out why it wasn't a good idea.

[rocktivity]

24. "Proving" that blacks are just as good as killing as being killed

is Chuck Turd's idea of journalistic fairness and balance.


rocktivity

[Freelancer]

29. He doesn't see color -- how could he have noticed? (said facetiously)

That's what Steven Colbert would have claimed.

I miss him SO much!

[still_one]

30. frustration, call it what it was a racist hit job to detract from the racist attack in South

Carolina, but trying to equate it as the same thing, which it wasn't. Fuck nbc, they are just like 95% of the MSM today

[mackerel]

31. Is Chuck Todd actually a journalist? I just can't figure out how he got that gig...

[Skittles]

45. he gladly gets on his knees for repukes

that's how

[KelleyKramer]

32. Yeah, it was all just an accident

"I'm sorry if you misunderstood me"

Yeah, right

[hay rick]

33. They can provide relevant context for current events or they can suck up to their demographic.

They can't do both.

[mfcorey1]

36. They might as well give the position to Brian Williams. Then you know what you have.

[madokie]

43. Chuckie baby

is just about smart enough to do himself in in the end. You notice I wrote 'just about' because in spite of himself he trudges on.
The smarmy bastid will not get any watches to anything he does from me if at all possible for me to avoid it. I dislike the man with a passion.

[Cha]

46. I should hope to hell so.. but, you never know with that bunch. "..not intended that way.." even

worse, you dumb dense, tone deaf Mr MTP.

When he interviewed President Obama for his first mtp gig.. Todd told him he "hadn't mentioned Syria, yet".. when the President had Mentioned him Four times up to that point.

gawd!

[Scuba]

48. Spin Alert! "... the apparently racially-motivated killings ..."

How "apparent" does it have to be?

[Snarkoleptic]

49. Post racial 'murica.

n/t

[marym625]

51. K&R

[MrScorpio]

52. Turn up the heat! nt

[Gothmog]

55. Chuck Todd is an idiot

[L0oniX]

56. Toad ...meet boiling water. Hope he gets fired!

[Enthusiast]

57. K&R! This post should have hundreds of recommendations!

They should be in very hot water. When did they morph into Fox "News"?

[silvershadow]

59. Normally I would hope that this might mean the end of the road for Chuck Toad..but

as unbelievable as this sounds, I fear they would replace him with someone even worse...if that's possible? 10 to 1 says if Chuckie goes for any reason..they will replace him with Scarborough.

[DFW]

62. NBC forgot to instruct Chuckie: If you're on the air, squirm, but don't lie.

You tell blatant, deliberate lies to your audience if you're on Fox Noise, not NBC.

--Todd responded that "it wasn't intended to be that way."--

What a dork. If it were not intended to be that way, then it WOULDN'T have been that way. Of COURSE it was intended to be that way. Does he think we're all stupid? Wait, on second thought, don't bother answering that.

Any flak he catches, up to and including losing his job and/or having his show cancelled, is more than deserved.

[jtuck004]

65. Change the name to "Meet the Racists". Would make it more honest. n/t

[brooklynite]

68. Here's a guess: Chuck Todd will have a comment/apology at the start of next week's show

[Joey Liberal]

71. I refuse to watch MTP

Too biased.

[KoKo]

72. Did they talk about Lindsey Graham Shooting Bernie Sanders on MSNBC?

When is Hate Speech & Death Threat by this S.C. Presidential Candidate going to be taken seriously?

Senator Lindsey Graham: "you have to hate the pigeons" as he mock shoots clay pigeon named for Senator Bernie Sanders on MSNBC


When a Senator "Mock Kills" another Senator in a demonstration on MSNBC is this the kind of Hate Speech that motivates others to act out? What about the example it sets for Young People to see and hear him say: “I’m gonna get you motivated to want to kill the clay pigeon…” i.e. Bernie Sanders on a Major Cable.

Given what has just happened in South Carolina is Senator Lindsey Graham rethinking what he said? Should he be rethinking what he said? Or, is this just a "Good Ole Boy" having fun with a few other good old boys and an MSNBC correspondent. What about MSNBC's role in this? Is this acceptable behavior to put out for broadcast?

Just Asking...

-------------------

Watch the MSNBC Snip Here: (Warning...MSNBC inserted a Minute Ad into this Snip...so just wait if you want to watch but you can read the Transcript of it in the Post.

http://player.theplatform.com/p/7wvmTC/MSNBCEmbeddedOffSite?guid=n_qc_skeet_150614

Or, Transcript:

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) went on MSNBC to teach Kacie Hunt how to skeet shoot. Yeehaw!

Early in the segment, Graham talks about how he’s not a morning person with Hunt. The the cameras go back to the shooting range where Graham urges the skeet operator to do a “Bernie Sanders”:

GRAHAM: “I’m gonna get you motivated to want to kill the clay pigeon…”

GRAHAM: “Alright, do a Bernie Sanders.”

SKEET OPERATOR: “Alright.”

GRAHAM: “Pull!”

(Gunshot)

GRAHAM: “Sorry about that, Bernie!”

(Laughter)

How hilarious! Sen. Graham is running for President of the United States and is fake shooting his competition, because he’s the classiest guy in the race. Obviously.

Before Hunt stepped up to shoot some clay pigeons, Graham tells her she has to ‘hate the pigeons’. She shoots, she misses. The clip basically sucks and is just Graham sucking up to gun owners showing them how much he just loves the Second Amendment.

Graham says:

It’s about leading the pigeon. It’s about staying out in front enough, but not too much. That’s what politics is like.

-
Perhaps, Graham is fake shooting Sanders because Sanders absolutely eviscerated him on CNN’s Crossfire a couple years ago on the topic of Obamacare.

Video of Graham, Sanders Debate at:

http://www.ifyouonlynews.com/politics/sorry-bout-that-bernie-lindsey-graham-fake-shoots-bernie-sanders-on-msnbc/

[MisterP]

73. this keeps happening!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/11879431