“MSNBC
is culpable in the election of Donald Trump. They are culpable in
giving the nomination to Hillary Clinton. They are culpable in
journalistic malpractice, and they owe people an apology. And they’re
losing viewers because of it.”
by Kevin
Gosztola
Oscar-nominated
filmmaker Josh Fox says he was “blacklisted” by MSNBC after he
became a surrogate for Senator Bernie Sanders during his presidential
campaign, and actress Susan Sarandon recently stood up to MSNBC
producers so he appeared on the network.
“I was
a regular on MSNBC. I was a regular on Chris Hayes’ show. I would
go on every couple weeks,” Fox shared, when he appeared on the
weekly podcast “Unauthorized Disclosure.” “This was just
part of life as me, being able to talk about fracking and pipelines
and these kinds of things, and I love that. I love that about my
life. I loved being able to go on. I loved to talk to Chris. I loved
to talk to Larry O’Donnell and the other people at ‘Morning Joe’
or Alex Wagner that would have me on to talk about these issues.”
“And
then, all of a sudden I became a Bernie Sanders surrogate and the
phone stopped ringing.”
MSNBC’s
Public Relations Department was contacted by email for comment but
did not respond.
On February
15, Fox appeared on MSNBC’s “All In,” hosted by Hayes. Yet,
according to him, he was not invited. Sarandon was initially asked to
do a segment on the Dakota Access pipeline struggle, and she called
Fox because she wanted him to be on the show with her.
When Fox and
Sarandon arrived at the studio, the producers said they were going to
play “the clip” from last time to dredge up comments Sarandon
made about Donald Trump in March 2016 during the heated Democratic
primary.
Fox said the
producers claimed there would not be enough time have him appear with
her.
“Susan
just did one of the most amazing, honorable, and noble things that
anyone has ever done for me, which is say no to them if they wouldn’t
put me on. She said, well, I’m not going on if Josh doesn’t go
on,” Fox recalled.
Last year,
Fox’s documentary, “How To Let Go Of The World and Love All
Things Climate Can’t Change,” enjoyed a considerably successful
premiere on HBO. It played at the Sundance Film Festival. Fox
considers it his best work, however, his publicist could not get any
MSNBC show to have Fox on air in June to promote the film.
The
“ultimate irony,” Fox noted, was that “All In” produced a
special climate series that started the same night his film premiered
on HBO.
During this
series, the program highlighted rising oceans, disappearing Arctic
ice, displaced people, solar energy, drought, water shortages,
climate denialism, and wildfires, but there was no segment on natural
gas fracking. There was no segment on pipelines. There was very
little explicit coverage, which made the connection between dirty
energy production and climate change.
Billionaire
and environmental activist Tom Steyer was invited on MSNBC during the
series to talk about climate activism. He declined to financially
support an anti-fracking ballot initiative in Colorado because, like
other liberal-leaning environmentalists, there was a fear it would
make Hillary Clinton’s campaign for president more difficult. He
also was a huge backer of Clinton and invested millions in turning
millennials out to vote for her in the general election.
What
happened with Sarandon on February 15 was the result of an
increasingly “desperate MSNBC,” which attempted a “ratings
grab” by “bringing Susan Sarandon on to try to humiliate her,”
Fox asserted. “It’s just unconscionable.”
Indeed,
MSNBC producers appear to have done their best to obscure Fox’s
appearance in the segment. The segment, “Does Susan Sarandon
still think Trump could bring the revolution?” puts all the
focus on embarrassing Sarandon.
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article, video:
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