MSNBC is insisting on imitating FOX News’ “fair and balanced” unfair and unbalanced approach to TV cable news journalism. After months of attacks by the left against MSNBC stalwart Pat Buchanan — whose antiquated, anti-gay, racist, and bigoted views were enveloped in his latest book, “Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025?” — MSNBC executives have finally suspended Buchanan. He is not expected to return to the progressive news network.
READ:Â Pat Buchanan Suggests NAMBLA And Gay Marriage Caused Penn State Scandal
Apparently, however, MSNBC has a fresh replacement to fill what network executives seem to feel is a necessary cog: Robert Traynham will replace Pat Buchanan as the conservative Republican, analyst.
Traynham is well-known in LGBT insider politics, and received an on-air tryout just last week on Chris Matthews’ Hardball, when the black, gay, former Rick Santorum Director of Communications and senior staffer appeared in a segment to support his former boss.
Traynham was outed years ago while working for the then-Pennsylvania Senator, by journalist Mike Rogers. Santorum painted Traynham as a victim.
In “The Laughable Attempt To Soften Santorum,” veteran journalist Michelangelo Signorile comments:
Why Traynham, as a gay man, was ever working for Rick Santorum is of course a question we ask all the time about gay conservatives who publicly support the very politicians who would strip them of their rights. Santorum attempted to turn Traynham into a victim in the way that Dick Cheney claimed his lesbian daughter Mary was under attack for supporting an administration that pushed a federal marriage amendment. Traynham now seems to be returning the favor, going public even though he’s previously tried to hide any association with Santorum. But he and the campaign must be smoking something pretty powerful if they think people are going to buy it.
This development — the hiring of Traynham by MSNBC — Â is disturbing on many fronts.
Consider the smaller audience MSNBC has, with media giants like FOX eclipsing MSNBC’s audience, budget, and resources, sometimes exponentially. MSNBC needs to respect its viewers a lot more than it ever has.
Consider that the conservative, Pennsylvania-based media giant Comcast acquired a majority stake in media conglomerate NBCUniversal — which owns MSNBC –  in January, 2011, and quickly booted the much-beloved Keith Olbermann. Traynham currently works for Comcast, so it wasn’t much of a stretch to re-approproate him to MSNBC.
MSNBC has a record of hiring and sustaining ultra-bigoted non-progressives, and Traynham, the latest in their stable, is over the top.
Let’s not forget, too, MSNBC also fired beloved Phil Donahue in 2003, yet kept on-air for years Don Imus, lord only knows why, and hired and (finally) fired — twice — lying firebrand Ann Coulter.
Recently, after watching the MSNBC Iowa Caucus coverage and comparing it to CNN’s, I commented via Twitter that MSNBC has yet to learn the basics of human resource management: Identify your number one (Maddow) then don’t hire anyone less-than.
Alas, MSNBC continues to ignore the basics.
UPDATE: 01.10.2011: Pat Buchanan False Claims: MSNBC Didn’t Suspend Me, I’m On Medical Leave
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