🧵 CNN has banned far-right panelist Ryan Girdusky for a violently bigoted joke against progressive commentator Mehdi Hasan.
This was the right decision. But as a former TV booker, what happened is part of a much bigger problem.
The mainstream media is so obsessed with "balance" that it now is routinely platforming outright racists and bigots. This needs to end.
You can follow along in the fediverse or click through...
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CNN’s Ryan Girdusky fiasco is part of a much bigger problem in mainstream media
By obsessively trying to have ‘balanced’ discussions, mainstream television news keeps platforming extremistsMatthew Sheffield (Flux)
Matthew Sheffield
in reply to Matthew Sheffield • • •First, here is the video of the moment in question. Girdusky, said that "I hope your beeper doesn't go off," a menacing "joke" implying that Hasan is a terrorist.
He should have been instantly banned from CNN for it, but was at least banned after this segment went to commercial break.
Matthew Sheffield
in reply to Matthew Sheffield • • •While CNN was right to ban Girdusky for his extraordinarily offensive remark, he should have never been invited onto CNN's air in the first place.
Girdusky is a full-on racist who wrote for the neo-nazi Richard Spencer under his real name
He currently runs a Republican censorship PAC dedicated to banning #LGBT books and school curricula about racism turtlediaries.net/p/gop-politi…
GOP Political Consultant Once Wrote for Richard Spencer
Amanda Moore (The Turtle Diaries)Matthew Sheffield
in reply to Matthew Sheffield • • •Unfortunately, there are hundreds of Ryan Girduskys who are routinely invited onto mainstream media television discussions. I know this because before going independent, I was a producer at The Hill on its "Rising" program.
Like all 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.
Matthew Sheffield
in reply to Matthew Sheffield • • •Frequently, my colleagues would book right wing commentators and as someone who'd come out of conservative media, I often had to review them before they were put on air.
More than a few times, people who were "alt right" activists were booked before I removed them. Many right-wing guests were outright Christian supremacists who literally wanted Christians to have more civil rights than non-believers or people of other faiths.
They were extremists, in other words.
Matthew Sheffield
in reply to Matthew Sheffield • • •It was a huge chore trying to find non-extreme Republicans.
Ironically, the biggest beneficiaries of affirmative action in media are Republican commentators. The MSM are desperate to find any who can engage in civil dialogue without fillibustering or collapsing into bigoted rants.
This is why you often see the same Republicans everywhere.
Matthew Sheffield
in reply to Matthew Sheffield • • •Republican elites have a huge quality problem on their side but they don't care to do anything about it. That's bc they realized that engaging in informational hygiene would shrink their very unstable coalition.
They've chosen extremism over centrism. And never get called on it.
The mainstream media needs to stop platforming dishonest and bigoted Republicans. America needs to hear what the far right thinks.
Reporters can present these views and their significance. We don't need the bigots.
Matthew Sheffield
in reply to Matthew Sheffield • • •The hard reality is that Republicans are so far from the center that they cannot engage in civil debate. The viewers would be better served by ending the right wing food fights.
CNN 's Republican chief executives clearly are behind these recent Republican affirmative action hires. They suppose that having more right wing droogs on the air will get Republicans to flip away from Fox.
But this will never work. For every Foxbot tuning in, they lose 2 disgusted viewers.
Matthew Sheffield
in reply to Matthew Sheffield • • •The irrational "both sides" fetish has created a dynamic where it is more controversial to label a fascist than it is for Republican politicians to praise Hitler like Trump and Mark Robinson do.
Being a fascist should be more controversial than labeling a fascist as such. And yet it is not. This is a disgraceful state of affairs.
Matthew Sheffield
in reply to Matthew Sheffield • • •Just to put a coda on what I'm talking about, after I left Rising, the decency standards that I created completely collapsed.
Amber Duke, the current Rising Republican, just said that Democrats should try to execute Donald Trump if they truly believe he is dictatorial.
She also has a long record of racism and antisemitism as well (no surprise)
Matthew Sheffield
in reply to Matthew Sheffield • • •Thanks for reading! Please boost this thread so others in the fediverse can see it. There's no algorithm here and so we need to support good content more than on other social networks.
Here's the essay version of this thread again for handy reference if you prefer sharing prose: plus.flux.community/p/cnns-rya…
/end
CNN’s Ryan Girdusky fiasco is part of a much bigger problem in mainstream media
Matthew Sheffield (Flux)Nicole Parsons
in reply to Matthew Sheffield • • •Media Acidification: increasing the number of the hateful in a group by forcing the decent to leave & keeping the toxic members.
Mainstream media organizations have been escorting the moral & fair minded out of journalism and increasing the number of amoral bigots on air.
Nicole Parsons reshared this.
RoundSparrow 🐦
in reply to Matthew Sheffield • • •"The hard reality is that Republicans are so far from the center that they cannot engage in civil debate."
The much harder reality is the Mastodon users who can't face up to the reality of Peter Pomerantsev's last 3 books and numerous YouTube interviews and content.
The much harder reality for USA people to face is that Cambridge Analytica + Russia created 5,000 psychological types and have won hearts and minds to #RealityKremlin - which is Unreality.
washingtonmonthly.com/2017/11/…
A #TrumpRussia Confession in Plain Sight
Martin Longman (Washington Monthly)