Is Matthews misusing power with NBC’s blessing?
December 3, 2008
by Sheryl Lee
|
This is not Chris Matthews
Had Thomas Jefferson (pictured at left) imagined the reach of media in the 21st century, he might have urged that it, along with religious institutions, be kept separate from government.
Since Jefferson and the other founding fathers lacked this foresight, you’d hope journalism’s code of ethics would require a partitioning of media and state—but for MSNBC, such distinctions appear to be of no concern.
The New Agenda reported on Chris Matthews’ admission of bias last month, when he told a visibly shocked Joe Scarborough,
I want to do everything I can to make this thing work, this new presidency work, and I think that […] it is my job. My job is to help this country. […] To make this work successfully. This country needs a successful presidency.
As if Matthews vowing to work for the Democratic Party from his anchor seat on NBC isn’t bad enough, on Friday a number of news outlets, including Politico, the LA Times, Huffington Post and FiveThirtyEight, reported that Matthews had been meeting with Democratic leaders in Pennsylvania “to discuss his possible Senate run in 2010″.
Pennsylvania Democratic Party Chairman T.J. Rooney was cited as one of “multiple sources” who confirmed the story, though Matthews denied the rumor that he was hiring staff in anticipation of this campaign.
Does anybody see a problem here?
Yesterday, Phil Singer wrote that Matthews should resign or be removed from his position as Hardball anchor on MSNBC. For Matthews to continue in his role as one of the network’s “most visible news anchors”, Singer said, will place MSNBC’s integrity as a non-partisan news source in jeopardy.
If Matthews is going to run as a Democrat in what will likely be a contested primary[*], will he be willing to play hardball when his fellow Democrats are in the news? How could he do an interview with Ed Rendell? How could he be trusted to cover the Obama transition and other political issues without fear or favor? More to the point, will viewers think he is covering politics without fear or favor?
It’s one thing for people to cry foul when MSNBC commentators appear ‘left leaning’ in their commentary. It’s quite another when one of those commentators is actively contemplating a run as a Democrat for elected office.
As a political matter, Matthews will look mealy-mouthed if he keeps denying he has an interest in the race while party leaders in Pennsylvania are quoted saying that he is in fact exploring it. That’s exactly the kind of move that Matthews the Pundit would decry on Hardball.
Chris Matthews has every right to run for the Senate but he shouldn’t risk NBC’s credibility or undermine the faith his viewers place in him. To avoid the appearance of conflict, Chris should do the right thing and remove himself from the air until he has made a decision. If he won’t do it, NBC should suspend him.
Though Thomas Jefferson didn’t foresee the sort of quandary in which Chris Matthews and MSNBC now find themselves, Thomas Carlyle may have had an inkling, as he wrote in On Heroes and Hero Worship of the press:
Whoever can speak, speaking now to the whole nation, becomes a power, a branch of government, with inalienable weight in law-making, in all acts of authority.
Is Matthews afraid of giving up his TV job only to find he doesn’t really have a shot at winning the election? It doesn’t matter: he needs to put on his big girl panties and do the right thing. He needs to man up.
If Chris Matthews is contemplating a Senate run while remaining an anchor on Hardball, and he has declared his intention to assist the incoming administration from this role, you must assume that he is already wielding power that he has not been legitimately granted by the will of the people. How can you, in good conscience, assume otherwise?
You, as a member of the U.S. electorate, have a right and a responsibility to protect your nation from the abuse of power by unelected individuals, and from your government having unfettered access to the powers of media. You have a right and a responsibility to object, and to insist that Chris Matthews resign before this goes any further.
Contact Mr. Jeff Zucker, President and CEO of NBC Universal, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10112 and tell him what you think of NBC employing a potential Senate candidate as a prominent news anchor—one who has brazenly declared his bias—and what you’d like him to do about it.
—o—o—o—
* Matthews’ potential opponents if he goes after the Democratic candidacy for the PA Senate seat include Rep. Joe Sestak, state Rep. Josh Shapiro; and U.S. Rep. Allyson Y. Schwartz, “a two-term Philadelphia area lawmaker who has moved up quickly on the Hill and has a Rolodex full of prospective donors from her unsuccessful 2000 Senate run. ‘We’ll see,’ she said about a repeat bid.”
Oh, I thought this was about that tingle in his leg he gets when he is around women and the smug satisfaction he gets in announcing it. If voters are so stupid as to accept him as a Senator then they fully deserve him.
This whole issue with Chris Matthew is a non-issue. The core of the issue is the voters and their own knowledge of the candidates.
If we’ve become a nation who are ignorant of the facts on the candidates and simply vote for them because of the “celebrity” status or familiarity then we suffer the consequences of our ignorance. Period.
As an intelligent woman, I’m more offended, someone wrote above on Thomas Jefferson photo “this is not Chris Matthews”, as if women needed clarification.
The boyz at msnbc are pumped up on hatred and hubris. Do not watch them, boycott their sponsors, and do not even report on their antics. They have an attention-getting need and, like jihadists, are crazed by their own propaganda. Matthews is the poster boy for that and no one would ever mistake him for Thomas Jefferson. I agree with L. Cross. Remove the caption.
Matthews is very real.
He is running to be one of this country’s 100 Senators, and if we don’t start to plan now, he may just well win.
Is this a sad statement on our country – yes. Is this a reality that we must combat instead of looking down our noses – yes.
Pardon me, but I don’t think that Dawn thought that those of us who read this blog would not recognize Thomas Jefferson. I think she was commenting on the quality of Mr. Matthews as a candidate. He is no Thomas Jefferson.
samanthasmom,
That was how I took it too.
I think we have to make an effort both on writing MSNBC and helping CM out making people as aware as possible about his lack of talent, tingles, and sexism. Above all, he’s shilling for himself now from his own TV program.
This issue seems like a very concrete thing we can tackle. How about drafting a letter to MSN clearly stating that until Chris Matthews makes a definitive decision about whether he’s going to run for the Senate, he should be put on hiatus from his job. Major conflict of interest! Amy, Dawn, Cynthia and others at TNA, if you’re interested and want help, shout out. I’d be happy to draft a letter.
Thanks, Dawn, for this post and I second Anna.
For the record, Scarborough knew he was resigning from congress and ran anyway just to scam voters in Florida the option of voting between two newcomers, Dem and Repub.
That way, he ensured the seat was held by his party. He also outlined a long-term rightwing plan to take over the country…starting from infiltrating school boards, and ending with taking over the arts.
He would fly home to Florida on private jets from DC when he was in congress in order not to miss a school board meeting. There were mothers organized against him and his rightwing, John Bircher takeover, but not many know of them.
His marching orders to his rightwing disciples were “we have enough of our people in DC, we need to move to journalism” — that’s why he made his move.
Just so you know why he’s on tv. And as for the final step, taking over the arts, it’s happening, if anyone cares.
I overheard Katherine Harris and her cronies talking about it when they were in Boston…and in Plymouth, MA, there is a huge new film studio well along the way in the works. Christian.
Talk about no separation. Just wait.
Scarborough gets no pass from me.
We need to publicize Mathew’s extreme mysogyny. Many people who did not follow the election like we did would be quite surprised by his many vulgar remarks. I am so digusted with my party, especially in light of Ludacous campaigning for Jim Martin in Georgia. The democratic party is staring to resemble A Grateful Dead Concert with an opening Rap act.
I hope Senator Arlon Spector stays well. He is one of the good republicans, like John McCain. We still need to defeat Mathews in the Dem. Primary. I need to study Alyson Schwartz and Joe Sestak some more; I met them both on the campaign trail for Hillary. I still think the key is to discredit Mathews in PA, the state that loves Hillary so. If they only knew what he was saying about the Clintons during the primary, he’d be toast here in Pennsylvania. I think I might market some anti-Mathews T-Shirts. Any Ideas?
Oh and by the way. I remember one of the Hillary volunteers telling me that Mathews was snooping around the Clinton 08 office in center city Philadelphia. He told her that they were paying “volunteers” $10, at the Obama campaign office a couple blocks away. She told him where he could put it!
If Spector runs, he’ll be 80, right? I hope the Republicans replace him with a woman if he doesn’t. They must have learned something from Sarah Palin’s cancidacy.
Anna, if you want to draft a letter, that would be terrific. I’ll top-post it for others to use.
We need to go after Matthews, yes—anyone that can say the misogynist things he has said, and then blatantly defy journalistic ethics as he is now doing, ought not be a public servant. He doesn’t have the integrity or the temperament.
So far, Juliette, we’ve been encouraging people to circulate evidence of Matthews’ questionable behavior, well documented at Media Matters:
For Chris Matthews, misogyny pays
With women, Matthews administers the “Chris Matthews test”
Does Chris Matthews have a problem with women?
Matthews’ sexist displays go beyond Clinton
Here’s further contact information from the Media Matters site:
Chris Matthews
hardball@msnbc.com
MSNBC
Mr. Phil Griffin,
Senior Vice President, News
NBC Television Network
30 Rockefeller Plz
New York, NY 10112
phil.griffin@nbc.com
Steve Capus,
President, NBC News
steve.capus@nbc.com
MSNBC
letters@msnbc.com
MSNBC/Microsoft-NBC
30 Rockefeller Plz
3rd Fl
New York, NY 10112
(212) 664-4444
“When contacting the media, please be polite and professional. Express your specific concerns regarding that particular news report or commentary, and be sure to indicate exactly what you would like the media outlet to do differently in the future.”
Will work on a letter. Dawn, should I post it here or send it to one of your e-mail addresses for you all to review, edit, post as you see fit?
Anna, you can email me at dawnc@thenewagenda.net.
Thanks for taking this on!
Dawn,
I am going to e-mail you a draft of the letter, which you are free to edit or change as you see fit. All I ask is that if you do make any substanative changes, that you do not credit me for the letter.
I tried to stay on point and not drift into complaints about Chris Matthew’s election coverage as 1) it is not directly relevant to the issue of conflict of interest if he plans to run for the Senate, and 2) it would be a tip off that we don’t like him to start with and are looking to find anything and everything to take issue with. Just a little background on how I came to write what I did, how I did.
[...] New Agenda member Anna has provided us with a draft letter to use to contact NBC regarding their conflict of interest issue with Chris Matthews. Please modify it however you like, and send it to Chris Matthews’ bosses at the [...]
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