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CNN's Ryan Girdusky fiasco is part of a much bigger problem in mainstream media [View all]
By obsessively trying to have ‘balanced’ discussions, mainstream television news keeps platforming extremists
On Monday evening, CNN took the rare step of removing a panelist during a commercial break as far-right activist Ryan Girdusky was banned from the network after he made a violently bigoted joke directed at progressive Arab-American commentator Mehdi Hasan, implying that he was a member of the terrorist group Hamas.
“There is a line that was crossed there, and it’s not acceptable to me; it’s not acceptable to us at this network,” NewsNight host Abby Phillip said after the program returned from the break. It was the right decision, but unfortunately, Girdusky’s disgraceful conduct is part of a much larger problem within mainstream journalism of platforming extremist Republicans.
Before I started Flux, I was a writer and producer for The Hill, where I worked on multiple shows, one of which was “Rising,” a bipartisan news opinion show. Like most mainstream media shows, we were constantly trying to have balanced panel discussions. But we always had a problem: It was very difficult to find Republicans who weren’t crazy.
...
Gidursky, a known racist who previously wrote articles for the white nationalist activist Richard Spencer and gave friendly interviews with the Proud Boys hate group, has been actively working to ban Black and LGBT authors from school curricula. He should’ve never been on CNN.
...
This irrational “both sides” compulsion has led to a situation where accurately identifying fascism is more controversial than actual fascistic actions and rhetoric among Republican politicians. Calling out hate, bigotry, and extremism should never be more contentious than tolerating it in our public discourse. Donald Trump obviously has played a huge role in polluting the American conversation, but the mainstream media shares much of the blame as well.
https://plus.flux.community/p/cnns-ryan-girdusky-fiasco-is-part
On Monday evening, CNN took the rare step of removing a panelist during a commercial break as far-right activist Ryan Girdusky was banned from the network after he made a violently bigoted joke directed at progressive Arab-American commentator Mehdi Hasan, implying that he was a member of the terrorist group Hamas.
“There is a line that was crossed there, and it’s not acceptable to me; it’s not acceptable to us at this network,” NewsNight host Abby Phillip said after the program returned from the break. It was the right decision, but unfortunately, Girdusky’s disgraceful conduct is part of a much larger problem within mainstream journalism of platforming extremist Republicans.
Before I started Flux, I was a writer and producer for The Hill, where I worked on multiple shows, one of which was “Rising,” a bipartisan news opinion show. Like most mainstream media shows, we were constantly trying to have balanced panel discussions. But we always had a problem: It was very difficult to find Republicans who weren’t crazy.
...
Gidursky, a known racist who previously wrote articles for the white nationalist activist Richard Spencer and gave friendly interviews with the Proud Boys hate group, has been actively working to ban Black and LGBT authors from school curricula. He should’ve never been on CNN.
...
This irrational “both sides” compulsion has led to a situation where accurately identifying fascism is more controversial than actual fascistic actions and rhetoric among Republican politicians. Calling out hate, bigotry, and extremism should never be more contentious than tolerating it in our public discourse. Donald Trump obviously has played a huge role in polluting the American conversation, but the mainstream media shares much of the blame as well.
https://plus.flux.community/p/cnns-ryan-girdusky-fiasco-is-part
42 replies
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