A former MSNBC producer says his “allegedly ‘progressive’” former network “often seems closer to the ‘official network of the Obama White House’ than anything resembling an independent channel.” Former Donahue show producer Jeff Cohen wrote at AlterNet that MSNBC is particularly wrongheaded “when it comes to issues of U.S. militarism and spying,” and said the network would be “loudly denouncing the Republican abuses of authority” if the Obama administration’s operations took place during a McCain or Romney presidency.
“MSNBC has usually reacted to expanded militarism and surveillance by downplaying the abuses or defending them,” he said, specifically criticizing hosts Rachel Maddow, Melissa Harris-Perry, Ed Schultz, and Alex Wagner (and singling out Chris Hayes as a praiseworthy exception).
As Mediaite’s Noah Rothman notes, Cohen’s criticism of the network comes as a recent Gallup poll finds MSNBC isn’t terribly popular with Democratic voters. According to the survey, 2 percent of Democrats called MSNBC their “main news source,” slightly higher than 1 percent who said it was Fox News and well below 10 percent who said it was CNN.
Via NewsBusters.