During Monday morning’s episode of Morning Joe, MSNBC contributor Dorian Warren called out the media for not giving proper coverage or discussion over the initiatives laid out by President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder in the wake of high-profile killings by police, specifically Michael Brown in Ferguson. Warren’s condemnation of the media came during a discussion of poll numbers showing a plurality of Americans who say they are dissatisfied with the way POTUS has handled the Ferguson situation.
Hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough showed clips from two separate interviews where Obama and former President George W. Bush discussed race within the context of recent grand jury decisions involving Brown and Eric Garner, the Staten Island man who was choked to death by NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo. They then showed the results of two recent polls. A Marist poll showed that 46% of Americans disapprove of the way the President has handled Ferguson. Meanwhile, a Bloomberg poll shows 53% of Americans feel race relations have gotten worse under President Obama.
Scarborough and Brzezinski wanted to know why a plurality of adults would disapprove of the way Obama has dealt with Ferguson and what more do they want him to do. Warren then pointed a finger directly at the media (and, likely, at Mika and Joe) for the way they’ve ignored the steps Obama and Holder have taken in recent days to address the militarization of law enforcement as well as holding police officers more accountable. Per Warren, the mainstream media largely ignored those stories, along with other statements Obama has made in the past, therefore making it seem as if the President has been very hands off and distant with Ferguson.
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Below is video of the segment, courtesy of MSNBC:
Thankfully, someone called out their bosses for not properly reporting the news. Also, this was far different than when Scarborough threw his hissy fit after the St. Louis Rams players used the ‘Hands up’ gesture prior to last Sunday’s game. Joe tried to call out the media as well during his tirade. However, he called them out because he felt they weren’t reporting the way he wanted news to be reported. Essentially, Scarborough was angry that anyone thought Darren Wilson was guilty of a crime when he shot and killed Brown, and he specifically wanted black people to know Brown did not have his hands up when Wilson killed him (despite numerous witnesses saying he did.)
In Warren’s case, he is admonishing the news media for not doing their real job, which is to report the actual news that is happening. If a president or AG launches initiatives or signs executive orders and announces that changes are being made in racial profiling, it is normally a good idea to report those stories. Instead, we just get endless debate and a bunch of people going out of their way to further demonize the first black president and make him the scapegoat for anything and everything, especially when it comes to racially divisive topics that perhaps can bring more viewers to particular news channels.
Justin Baragona is the Managing Editor at Politicus Sports as well as Senior Editor at PoliticusUSA. He was a political writer for 411Mania.com before joining PoliticusUSA. Politically, Justin considers himself a liberal but also a realist and pragmatist. Currently, Justin lives in St. Louis, MO and is married. Besides writing, he also runs his own business after spending a number of years in the corporate world. You can follow Justin on Twitter either with his personal handle (@justinbaragona) or the Sports site’s (@PoliticusSports).
